Have the political parties the money to fight the elections?

[kerrynorth]

Just 6 or so weeks out from the elections and is anyone else noticing the complete lack of effort from across all the political parties? The only billboards I have seen on my travels have been that of Alan Kelly in South, otherwise you would not have noticed that is an election going on. Have the donations to political parties/candidates dried up with everything else in the economy? Did they shoot their bolt with the referendum last year and are now running on empty? And after spending whatever resources they have left in June are they then tapped out come the Lisbon 2 referendum?

I suppose the real test will be when the postering ban lapses and we will see are the telegraph poles as badly festooned as in 2004. Whereas FF may be wary of the optics of splashing out in aftermath of the budget, that does not apply to the opposition parties. Can anyone shed any light on the funding/donations postion of the PP's vis a vis previous elections.

[aodh_rua]

Just 6 or so weeks out from the elections and is anyone else noticing the complete lack of effort from across all the political parties? The only billboards I have seen on my travels have been that of Alan Kelly in South, otherwise you would not have noticed that is an election going on. Have the donations to political parties/candidates dried up with everything else in the economy? Did they shoot their bolt with the referendum last year and are now running on empty? And after spending whatever resources they have left in June are they then tapped out come the Lisbon 2 referendum?

I suppose the real test will be when the postering ban lapses and we will see are the telegraph poles as badly festooned as in 2004. Whereas FF may be wary of the optics of splashing out in aftermath of the budget, that does not apply to the opposition parties. Can anyone shed any light on the funding/donations postion of the PP's vis a vis previous elections.

We (Fine Gael in Kildare South) have been out since before Christmas - but the other parties are very quiet. We'll just have to wait til the posters go up on May 6 to get a real view of things.