Sir, – Sarah Farren in her letter (Letters Page, April 23rd) brilliantly captures the very point that we, as Ireland’s independent Electoral Commission, are making in our current series of TV and radio advertisements.
When it comes to voting in Ireland’s elections, people have the right and the desire to make up their own minds in the privacy of the polling booth.
Our adverts deliver a serious message in a series of light-hearted situations, including in a chipper, a travel agency and a hairdressing salon.
These ads portray a person’s opportunity to make up their own mind and to have their decision heard, but that opportunity is suddenly taken away from them, leaving them unheard, unseen and quite frustrated.
Owen Doyle: World Rugby should leave the lineout alone and fix the scrum
Oscars 2025: Was Adrien Brody’s speech the longest ever, was Conan O’Brien funny and eight other key questions
Anjelica Huston: ‘There was no shame to having fun with playing women of a certain age’
‘Where I come from, people don’t do medicine. It’s not on your radar’: how a new generation of doctors is being trained
You wouldn’t let someone else decide your takeaway order, your haircut or your next holiday destination.
But if you don’t speak up in June 7th’s European, local and (if living in Limerick) mayoral elections, someone else is deciding for you. Your vote is your voice.
Get registered for a postal vote if eligible by May 11th; for in-person voting get registered by the May 20th deadline.
Please have your voice heard by being a voter on June 7th, 2024. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN DAWSON,
Communications and Public Engagement Manager,
An Coimisiún Toghcháin,
The Electoral Commission.
