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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
A proposal from the Workers Party to organise a Democratic Convention against Terror.
Its an interesting read.
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……
In 1990 Brian Lenihan was the favourite for the Presidency…… Pee Flynns championing of stay at home mothers, the “on mature recollection” statement about phone calls in 1982 and other happenings led to the loss of the Presidency for the first time ever by Fianna Fail. Mary Robinson became our first female president.
It also ended Lenihans Ministerial career as the PDs called for his head on a plate…. and Charlie duly obliged..
The Below doc has a lovely photo of Lenihan lovingly gazing at Haughey…. the man who would sack him months later. In the family photo you may spot Conor Lenihan with hair and a young Brian junior amongst others.
A leaflet produced by Young Fine Gael for the 1998 Referendum to ratify the Amsterdam Treaty
There was a bit of fuss when this Young Fine Gael Leaflet came out. Not about the content but about the cover….. the content was full of possible double entendres….
Young Fine Gael Yes to the Amsterdam Treaty.
Given the proximity of LIsbon 2, I figured I’d post stuff from previous European Referendums (or is it Referendi?).
Heres Enda asking us to Vote YES to Nice….
As you can see its roughly the same arguements for each European Referendum…
Election 87 after five years in Government Fine Gael play on the highly popular (and important) slogan of
the time ‘Guaranteed Irish’. They had inherited a country in bits and some of the text such as “You’ve worked hard- don’t throw it all away” gives an idea of the sacrifices the public (or the PAYE sector) were making. Mind you there was still an awful long way to go….
We have the front page, the middle pages which are “What Fine Gael have done” and “What Fine Gael will do”
Amongst what they had done was… “Started the first ever reform of the Public Service”,”The Anglo-Irish Agreement”,
“Biggest road building programme ever” and so on.
Amongst what they would do was “Build regional sports centres”. Also with regard to creating jobs- “get fares down further and increase tourism”. There were no low budget airlines back then. The low budget was the supabus to London, which many had taken but not come back.
1987 was also the Progressive Democrats first General Election.
The Roscommon Hospital Action Committee (H.A.C.) was founded in 1977 and still has a number of councillors (Paula McNamara and Valerie Byrne) in Roscommon today. Eithne Quinn stood for the HAC in the 1987 General Election but failed to be elected. However in 1989 Tom Foxe stood for the HAC and was elected. Below some of his literature from that election. (I have some of his later literature also). He was re-elected for the new constituency on Longford-Roscommon in 1992, however lost his seat in 1997.
Aside from the Hospital issue the Leaflet illustrates some of the issues in the West at the time.
This is a Richard Bruton Leaflet and a letter to constituents from the 1992 General Election.
In the Middle part of the first leaflet we see ‘reforming Fas’, tax benefits on third level fees and so on. Would the job creation ideas of 17 years ago work again?
Found this Nessa Childers leaflet from 2004s Local Elections and thought it worth posting…..
Nessa, daughter of former President Erskine Childers won a seat for the Green Party here. She later resigned the seat and bowed out of politics only to reappear as Labour candidate for Ireland East in the 2009 Euro elections.
In Ireland we often have people leaving parties going Independent or founding their own party/group, often they are welcomed back to the party which they had left.
Not too many elected representatives switch between the main parties, so as a collector I like the fact that I have both the Green and Labour leaflets for Nessa Childers….
‘We must grasp the opportunities offered by new technologies…‘ she writes in the Labour Leaflet
The 1997 General Election was the first time the SWP put forward candidates to contest an Irish election. It fielded four candidates- Ritchie Browne, Peadar O’Grady, Brid Smith in Dublin constituencies and Jimmy Kelly in Waterford.
Peadar O’Grady ran in Dublin South East. They use being Anti Corruption to try and attract voters rather than advertising that they are a ‘revolutionary socialist group’.
Irish Election Literature 
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