A ‘Thank You’ card arrives on the doorstep…. you open it to see who is thanking you…. Conor Lenihans mug pops out.
Support Palestine Demo for Ireland vs Israel game in 2005 October 9, 2009
4th of June 2005 and Ireland take on Israel at soccer, a two all draw which costs us dearly in our qualification hopes for the World Cup. This leaflet was to advertise a protest and ways to protest at the game.
The leaflet was issued by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Eric Byrnes Lotto -Local Elections 2004 October 8, 2009
Eye catching leaflet from Eric Byrne on house prices and the money being made by developers . It made a lot of sense at the time . Although what those houses are worth now is anyones guess.
Frank Dobbs -Progressive Democrat Sligo-Leitrim 1987 October 7, 2009
Frank Dobbs flyer from 1987 in Sligo Leitrim. The text is as corny as you’ll get.
What’s unusual is that four years later in the 1991 Local elections Frank Dobbs stood for Declan Brees Sligo-Leitrim Independent Socialist Organisation.
Some conversion….
Frank Aiken- Progressive Democrats- Louth 1989 October 2, 2009
In the 1987 General Election aside from the TDs, Senators and councillors with a Fianna Fail background the PDs also had a number of candidates whos fathers were ex Fianna Fail Ministers. Amongst them Anne Colley and Martin Gibbons were both elected.
One who stood but wasn’t elected was Frank Aiken in Louth. This is his 1989 manifesto.
Two Leaflets from Martin MacFeorais -Independent -1987 Dublin South October 1, 2009
“….we are assailed from many quarters, and by determined individuals advancing their own sectional interest to our detriment…”
Ring a bell? a good deal of this could be applied to today.
I just like the design of these two leaflets, the mother carrying her shopping with a boy and girl either side, the warm greeting ‘Dia bhur mbeatha’ and even the colurs are unusual for election flyers.
Martin MacFeorais polled 107 votes.
Fianna Fail February 1982 – ‘Nail the Lies’ leaflet September 23, 2009
A Nail the Lies leaflet from the Fianna Fail Feb 1982 campaign.Hitting out at Fine Gaels 1981 promises. Mentions the famous Vat on clothing and footwear that brought down that government.
Mention too of ‘housewives’… you wouldn’t get that today.
(click on image to make it larger)
Michael Lynch- Fianna Fail Meath 1987 September 22, 2009
With Jim Fitzsimons staying in Europe. Colm Hilliard was the only sitting Fianna Fail TD to contest the 1987 General Election in Meath.
Hilliard, Former TD Michael Lynch and newcomers Mary Wallace and Noel Dempsey were on the Fianna Fail ticket.
Lynch topped the poll as Fianna Fail won three of the five seats with Colm Hilliard and Noel Dempsey joining him in the Dail.
In 1989 Lynch lost his seat pipped on the final count by party colleague Dempsey.
In that 1989 election on the first count just 723 votes separated the four Fianna Fail candidates.
Lynch was unlucky that the two Dail terms he served were short, one period was from February to November 1982 and the other from 1987 to 1989.
Fine Gael November 1982 General Election- “Change for the Better” Newsletter
Fine Gael in November 1982. Garret Fitzgerald is used prominently. Note the reference to “after the Shambles of Fianna Fail”. Most elections up until the late 90s FF would have campaigned on the benefits and stability of single party government. This was a good dig at that. The outgoing Fianna Fail government had had all sorts of scandals as well as the usual internal dissent over Haugheys leadership.
1997 General Election – “Vote Christian” Leaflet September 21, 2009
A Leaflet from the 1997 general election asking voters to ‘Vote Christian’. The National Party and Christian Solidarity Party were both Pro-Life as were the rest of the candidates listed.
Eamon Murphy in Dublin Central had been in the shortlived Christian Centerist Party, Cllr Richard Greene had a party Muintir na hEireann which had literature for that election but must not have been registered. Sean Lyons and Sean Dublin Bay Loftus would have also been Pro-Life.
All of the candidates listed, bar Sean Dublin Bay Loftus, lost their deposits.
Mildred Fox -Wicklow 1997
Mildred Fox an Independent TD for Wicklow, was first elected in 1995 in a By Election caused by the death of her father Johnny Fox. Johnny Fox was a Fianna Fail Councillor who ran as an Independent candidate in the 1992 General Election , having failed to get a nomination from Fianna Fail.
This Leaflet is from the 1997 General election. The issues addressed are mainly of a rural nature.
Alan Dukes, Bernard Durkan-Fine Gael Kildare 1992 September 19, 2009
From 1992 , A post leadership Alan Dukes and running mate Bernard Durkan. Both were elected.
Alan Dukes has of course gone on to better things since such as his role with Anglo Irish Bank.
Progressive Democrats – ‘Yes to the Single European Act’
PD ‘Yes’ to Single European Act letter. The SEA Referendum took place in May 1987. Again we have the Neutrality, Abortion as potential issues. The constitutional challenge to the Bill refers to a case taken by Ray Crotty that meant in future the ratification of any European Treaty would require a Referendum.
The answers to the ‘What if we vote No?’ and ‘Re-negotiation’ are very plain too.
PJ Coghill, Sean Fallon, George Ledwith, Kieran Molloy, Egbert Moran, Cieran Temple -Fianna Fail- Athlone LEA 1991
From the 1991 Local Elections in Athlone. Fianna Fail candidates PJ Coghill, Sean Fallon, George Ledwith, Kieran Molloy, Egbert Moran and Cieran Temple. A strange layout of the candidates in this leaflet. Its unusual that there are no names beside the candidates pictures.I’d hazard there haven’t been too many ‘Egberts’ put before the electorate either.
Roger Garland- Ireland’s First Green TD -1992 Dublin South September 18, 2009
Roger Garland made History when he became Ireland first ever Green TD in the 1989 General Election. He was elected in Dublin South. He lost his seat however in 1992. His first preference vote went from 4771 in 1989 to 2258 in 1992.
Here we have a 1992 flyer.
Slightly Bizarre… Pat ‘Abel’ O’Reilly- “You will never Vote Better” -1987 Dun Laoghaire
There’s some pretty funny stuff in this…
First off he changed his name to ‘Abel’ O’Reilly to be top of the ballot paper. What alternative to alphabetical order would he have proposed?
I gather he was a member of the PDs and had sought the nomination, hence ….
“Sean Doherty TD has described the addition of Geraldine Kennedy to the PD ticket as Hitler Politics”
You’d never have guessed either that he was once a policeman in the US.
The Vote yourself into Money is quoted too, with his odds of being elected at 50-1. lots more odd stuff there too. He polled 233 votes.
The Workers Party – A Democratic Convention in Defence of Public Life from 1991
A proposal from the Workers Party to organise a Democratic Convention against Terror.
Its an interesting read.
‘Dessie Can Do It’ -Progressive Democrats -1987 General Election
1987 was the PDs first Gerneral Election. There was a bit of a buzz about Dessie (another such as Bertie,Charlie and Garret that the electorate were on first name terms with). This shows what their initial policies were.
They included abolition of the Seanad and Ministerial Pensions……
Irish Election Literature 
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