Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2019
646. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the restrictions on content applied to the freepost election literature to which each European candidate is entitled. [21659/19]
View answerThe Electoral Acts provide that every notice, bill, poster or similar document, having reference to an election or distributed for the purpose of furthering a particular candidate at an election, is required to bear upon its face the name and address of the printer and of the publisher thereof. The Electoral Acts do not regulate the content of electoral material, including election posters, leaflets or other similar material, either during or outside of electoral campaigns.
More generally, section 7 of the Public Order Act 1994 provides that is an offence for any person in a public place to distribute or display any writing, sign or visible representation, which is threatening, abusive, insulting or obscene with intent to provoke a breach of peace. In this regard it would be a matter for An Garda Síochána to deal with public order offences generally, including offences under section 7 of the Act, either at their own instigation or on foot of allegations made in that regard.
