From the 2007 General Election in Cork South Central. Fianna Fail candidate, the current Minister of Foregin Affairs Micheál Martin.
Amongst the issues shown are his role in the smoking ban as well as a host of projects in Cork that he was linked with.
From the 1999 local elections, Fianna Fail candidate Chris Andrews running in the Pembroke Ward. Chris Andrews was elected, his running mate Liz Donnelly lost out.
He lost his seat in 2004, before being co-opted in 2006 and then winning a Dail seat in Dublin South East in 2007.
Chris Andrews is son of Niall Andrews, grandson of Todd Andrews, nephew of David Andrews and of course a cousin of amongst others Dun Laoghaire TD Barry Andrews and RTEs Ryan Tubridy.
Again for a Dublin South East based candidate the background for the photo is the Pidgeon house. Amongst the issues covered here are the needs for Taxi deregulation and more recycling and better waste management.
From April 2004 in the run up to the 2004 local and European Elections, a Donaghmede Sinn Fein special Bulletin on Donaghmede Probation Office.
Then Sinn Fein candidate Killian Forde writes of the true costs of the project and the link between prominent Fianna Fail donors and the location of the office.
Other concerns include the fact that other sites weren’t inspected, the cost overruns, waste of public money and only a part of the offices capacity being used.
Is the office fully occupied now?
Joe Holohan of The Democratic Left from the Dublin North by -Election held on the 11th of March 1998.
It was the last day that The Democratic Left appeared on a ballot paper (There was a by-election in Limerick East on the same day).
Joe Holohan polled just 225 votes coming in behind amongst others the Christian Solidarity Party.(result at electionsireland.org) The vote surely helped speed along the merger with the Labour party which happened less than a year later.
In 1981 Christopher Fettes wrote a letter (below) to the Irish Times enquiring if anyone was interested in setting up an Irish Ecology Party. He got around 80 responses. In turn this led to a meeting of all those interested. This is the poster Advertising the first meeting.
The Ecology Party of Ireland did not field any candidates in the February 1982 election, but did field seven candidates
in the November 1982 Election.(Seven candidates were needed to get coverage on RTE). These Seven were Roger Garland in Dublin South (950 votes) ,Maire Mullarney in Dublin South East (312), Aidan Meagher (188) in Dublin North West, Liam DeSuin (463) in Wicklow, Richard Power in Limerick East (177), Owen Casey (1307) Cork South Central and Elizabeth Ryder (319) in Cork South West.
Many members were unhappy with the name of the new Party and with Greens such as Petra Kelly in Germany household names the name of the Party was changed. On April the 12th 1984 ‘The Green Alliance/ An Comhaontas Glas’ formally applied to be registered as a political Party.
Many thanks to the donor.
A leaflet sent out by the now Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin in Galway West. I’m not sure exactly when but I suspect it was prior to the 2002 General Election.
Issues covered include Solving the Waste Crisis, Organic Farming, Green Spaces, Balanced regional development and of course Water Quality.
From the 1997 General Election, the now Irish Times Pundit Noel Whelan with running Mate Eoin Ryan on the Fianna Fail Ticket in Dublin South East. Ryan was elected.
A fairly detailed version of ‘New Kid on the block’ Whelans career, which is impressive. At 28 he was the parties youngest candidate in Dublin.
Also in the “Protecting Home Buyers Rights” section…
‘Many young people are also deeply concerned about escalating house costs and the current over heating of the Dublin property market….’
The generic Fianna Fail 1987 leaflet which would have had candidate details inside. The Message from Charles Haughey to the electorate is interesting.
In similar enough times to now, Haughey had an emphasis on providing employment.
“..People are looking for leadership, for the restoration of confidence and better management of their affairs..”
*A 6 page version of The Programme for National Recovery’ is posted here
From the 1987 General Election in Dublin South East. The fianna Fail candidates of Mary McAleese, Gerard Brady, Michael Donnelly and Eoin Ryan.
Gerard Brady won a seat. (result at electionsireland.org)
The profiles of all the candidates have items of interest.
For instance Mary McAleese was a member of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Delegation to the New Ireland Forum. Who remembers her now from her time on RTE Radio and Television. Eoin Ryan is a graduate of Kildalton Horticultural College.
From the 2009 Dublin South By-Election, United Minds/ Independent candidate Ross O’Mullane. He polled 650 votes
O’Mullane writes….
If elected I will enable every citizen in Dublin South to speak and vote on decisions that affect us all using our website http://www.unitedminds.ie.
The idea of consulting constituents over decisions is not new, nor was it new to Dublin South.
In 1997 Gerard Dolan stood for Political Organisation for Work(POW) and planned to ask voters each month their views on issues that were to come up in the Dail.
From the 2007 General Election where then Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent ran with a running mate Cllr Joe Corr.
Trevor Sargent was easily elected and Joe Corr polled over 1,300 votes.
The Leaflet is full of the brightness and positive pictures used by Sargent in the past. I see too that he was Magill Politician of the year in 2007
The then Progressive Democrat Pat Cox from the 1992 General Election in Cork South Central where he won a seat.
Pat Cox left RTE to run for the Progressive Democrats in the 1989 European Elections where he topped the poll in Munster. This leaflet is from his 1992 Dail Campaign.
In 1994 it was expected that he would remain in the Dail, instead he took on former Party Leader Des O’Malley and held his MEP seat as an Independent. In Brussels he was elected president of the ELDR group in the European Parliament in 1998 and in 2002 he was elected President of the European Parliament. He continued in that role until 2004.
He is now President of ‘The European Movement’.
There are some awaiting his return to Irish Politics.
From 1986 a booklet ‘A New and Exciting Option in Irish Politics’ from the Progressive Democrats.
Given the current climate, where it is seen as an ideal opportunity for a new party to emerge, it makes interesting reading.
There is a message from Des O’Malley who states “The Progressive Democrats came into existence in response to inherent weaknesses in the
Irish political structure and the disaffection of very many people with the manner this country has been governed in recent years…”
There are a number of different sections to the booklet. These are “Origins and aims of the Progressive Democrats”, ‘What is the philosophy of the party?’,
“Right or Left?” , ‘What about The Economy?’, ‘How can you reduce taxation?’, ‘Can you reduce unemployment?’, ‘Will you tackle difficult social issues?’,
‘Waht hope for Northern Ireland?’, ‘How will party policy be framed?’ and ‘After the next Election?’. And of course ”How do I join?’.
It gives an idea as to what the parties policies were initially and also what was attractive about them.
Boston based Declan Boland ‘s leaflet from the 2002 Seanad Election for the University of Dublin. He recieved 98 votes.
His platform included representing the Irish overseas community.
Thanks to the donor for sending these.
Pictures of two posters from Pat McHugh and John Coulthard of the Northern Ireland Labour Party from the 1970 Westminister Elections. (apologies for poor quality).
Pat McHugh stood in North Antrim where Ian Paisley won the seat. It was the first time Paisley was elected to Westminister.
John Coulthard stood in South Belfast where the Unionist candidate Rafton Pounder easily won the seat.
George Lees election flyer.
From the 2009 Dublin South by-election Fine Gael poll topper George Lee. Lee at the time RTEs economics correspondent was a huge capture for Fine Gael.
I wonder would Enda be as enthused now? I always felt that Alan Shatter and Olivia Mitchell were grimmacing in the photo with George.
(Amongst other ‘celebrity’ candidates posted to date are Frank Mc Namara, Jeananne Crowley , Geraldine Kennedy and Orla Guerin)
Firstly Thanks to the donor. (This is the first of two Independent Socialist Party Leaflets I’ll be posting )
“Join the Independent Socialist Party” with details of the party’s aims, a piece on Socialism in Ireland and the directions it has taken since 1968 and also membership details on the back.
The Contact details for the Independent Socialist Party are ‘The Five Eighth Bookshop’ which was a small bookshop run by Johnny White.
What else I know is that The Independent Socialist Party was shortlived (1976 to 1978) and came from a split with the IRSP. I’d assume this leaflet is from 1976.
Wikipedia states…
The Independent Socialist Party was a far left political party in Ireland. It was founded in 1976 as a split from the Irish Republican Socialist Party named the Irish Committee for a Socialist Programme, calling for more prominent socialist politics and less emphasis on paramilitary activity. The following year, it renamed itself the “Independent Socialist Party” and was joined by former UK Member of Parliament Bernadette McAliskey.
The party entered discussions with the Socialist Workers’ Movement (SWM), with the aim of forming a joint organisation, but the SWM chose instead to join the Socialist Labour Party in 1978. As a result, the Independent Socialist Party decided to disband.
You will also find some more information here.
An election flyer from The Labour Party in the 1992 General Election Campaign. With Dick Spring so popular the slogan is smaller and the picture of Dick dominates the page.
Looking back quite a few of the aims were done between 1992 and 1997.
Irish Election Literature 
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