At the most recent meeting of Kilkenny Municipal District Councillors agreed to keep Kilkenny beautiful by keeping their election posters out of the city. A motion was placed before the elected members to ask them to agree to keeping election posters out of the city. The motion was proposed by Green Party Councillor and Chair of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful, Kilkenny’s Tidy Towns group.
At the last local elections over 150 towns all over Ireland called for their local candidates to desist from placing posters in their towns. Many people consider them very bad for the environment because posters are generally ‘single-use’ and thousands of cable ties end up littering the ground. Unfortunately, defacement and interference with posters has become a feature of some election campaigns all leading to an undesirable visual as well as physical environment.
“KKB volunteers collect tonnes of single use plastic rubbish every year and most people are aware of the environmental destruction that single use plastics is causing our country. Last year we came within 2 points of the overall winner of the SuperValu Tidy Towns competition, thanks to the massive efforts of residents, KKB volunteers and businesses. Adjudication for the competitions start before the end of the campaign but in addition we will have many visitors to Kilkenny who have no interest in local elections and will consider the posters everywhere as ‘visual litter’ detracting from our beautiful city. Previous Tidy Town winners like Ennis and over 150 other towns around Ireland have banned posters and like Ennis we want to be winners. I proposed the motion, asking that our sitting elected reps show their solidarity with the volunteers, businesses and residents who put a massive effort into putting the best foot forward for Kilkenny city for visitors and locals alike. I’m delighted to say every Cllr agreed with the motion. I hope other candidates will also respect the ban”.
This agreement is voluntary, and the ‘Poster Free City’ arrangement was approved by all sitting members of Kilkenny Municipal District Council.
