Connolly's 'illegal' Longford posters vandalised with target symbol

Catherine Connolly's campaign team have said they will have to remove numerous posters situated along the main road from Killashee to Lanesboro in Longford after they were spray painted with target symbols and 'X's'.

The team however made no reply when asked to address the separate issue that a number of the presidential candidate's posters are currently mounted on place name and speed limit signs, which, as the rules regarding election campaigns clearly state, is prohibited. 

When asked first about the vandalised signs and whether a complaint would be made to Gardaí regarding the target symbol, a representative for Ms Connolly's Longford-Westmeath branch said, "I can’t speak on what team Connolly is doing but from a local branch perspective - our team here in Longford were notified last night and will remove the posters, which have to be removed anyways as the election is tomorrow. From a local perspective it’s very upsetting that the posters that we helped fund during the 'sponsor a poster' campaign, got destroyed." 

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Even though the target symbols had only been sprayed onto the posters approximately 24 hours prior to Ms Connolly's visit to the town, the team member said they had notified Gardai a week in advance to stand by. 

They told the Longford Leader, "I would also like to add that it is terrifying that there are posters with target symbols and I had deep worry for Catherine’s safety when she arrived in Longford - I notified the Gardaí a week in advance to stand by and glad that they did keep an eye out yesterday - luckily there were no incidents."  

When asked for a comment regarding the placement of the posters, there was no response from Ms Connolly's local team. The campaign team also did not reply when asked why Ms Connolly - who is running her campaign on the slogan of 'raising your voice' -  chose not to engage with media representatives during her whistle-stop Longford visit.

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