Labour moves to new election advert

The Labour Party has followed up its "But, are you happy?" pre-election ad campaign with a second phase asking: "It's time for…

The Labour Party has followed up its "But, are you happy?" pre-election ad campaign with a second phase asking: "It's time for a change, are you with us?"

The party leader, Pat Rabbitte, said yesterday that part one of the campaign was aimed at sparking a debate on quality of life, asking if people were happy to live in a wealthy economy but in a society under strain. Mr Rabbitte said Labour alone could not change Ireland and the next phase of the campaign was asking people to vote Labour for change.

He did not want people's vote so he could get into government and then forget all the commitments made, he said. "We've had enough of that way of doing things. I want your vote to give me the chance to deliver on my commitments, and to work hard on your behalf and on your families' behalf."

Meanwhile, for the first time in its history, the Green Party has launched an outdoor advertising campaign, with a series of ads at Luas stops along the green line from Charlemont to Dundrum.

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The chairman of the party's election taskforce, John Gormley TD, said the launch would be followed by advertising campaigns at bus shelters and on billboards.

The adverts unveiled yesterday show a doctored photograph of the chimneys at Poolbeg power station, with wind turbines attached to their tops. The caption beside the photograph reads: "It's time to think bigger."

While the Greens did not intend putting wind turbines on the Poolbeg chimneys, the idea was to stimulate debate on moving away from fossil-fuelled power stations to renewable energy such as wind, Mr Gormley said.

"Unless this Government, or future governments, begin to think bigger in relation to our energy needs, then we have no hope of tackling our climate change commitments."

Parties do not have to take into account as part of their election spending limits money spent on advertising and billboard campaigns until the day the general election has been called.