Youth Defence flouts DCC rules

In Blog, Politicsby Fedayn48 Comments

 

Poster advertising mythical meeting

Poster advertising mythical meeting

*Updated* Is Youth Defence breaking by-laws to continue their anti-choice poster campaign?

Dublin City Council allows postering on their property (e.g. lamposts) within strict guidelines (here). Posters may only be posted for specific events and/or meetings. They must be posted within 7 days of the event/meeting and taken down within 7 days of the event/meeting’s finish.

Youth Defence recently posted the posters (above) across the city to advertise a ‘Pro-Life Meeting’ on Sat.22/06 at 5pm in Wynn’s Hotel. Our source attended Wynn’s Hotel at the appointed time to find no meeting in progress. Our source enquired within the hotel and they had no knowledge of the supposed meeting. Our source later phoned the Duty Manager (name recorded) and he confirmed that no booking had been made.

The information was passed to DCC.

We challenge DCC publicly to act against Youth Defence. Wynn’s Hotel – Phone: 01-874 5131. We believe a fine of €150 per poster have been imposed on many other groups in the past (example).

*UPDATE*

The City Council has investigated this issue and can confirm that a meeting was organised and a booking arranged with the hotel ( Council has documentary evidence to that effect). The organisers and other attendees did attend the hotel for the meeting but the meeting did not proceed as there appears to have been a mix up in the booking arrangements.

The Council therefore is satisfied that the organisers have not breached the terms of the Postering Protocol and will not be pursuing the matter further.

Kind Regards,

Hugh Coughlan Administrative Officer

rabble spoke with Hugh Coughlan and while Wynn’s Hotel did indeed have NO record of a reservation, Youth Defence were able to supply a confirmation email to their reservation enquiry.

We’re all correct! *Hugs*

Comments

    1. I’d say the money leads back to nutjobs in the US, though without a doubt they’d mostly be radical religious zealots! They’re completely out-of-alignment with public opinion in Ireland in any case. They’re fighting a losing battle at least.

  1. Same in Limerick. Quote from a friend who contacted the alleged Limerick meeting: “The Clarion hotel (where the meeting is being held) didn’t know they’d booked a youth defence meeting & are currently trying to cancel it.”

  2. People – please, for those outside Dublin, we would love you to make a simple call to hotels when they’re mentioned on posters and check if this is a nationwide deceitful strategy to get around by-laws. Thanks, this story comes from you.

  3. What about the bigger lie as the headline on the posters, how can they get away with that?

  4. I know. Bet it’s the case in other counties. Limk city council claimed that a complainant was against free speech and democracy and that the (miniscule & fake) meeting details are absolutely legible.

  5. Have emailed my council…suggest others do too.

  6. They just have to be up and down within a certain time either side political meetings. There is usually supposed to be a meeting though.

  7. There are 6,000 of them across the city. 150 x 6,000 is 900,000. Hers hoping they get fined.

  8. They were all up over Cork this morning too. Seriously pissed me off.

  9. I saw some of their posters being taken down around Merrion square at 9pm tonight. It wasn’t DCC workers, so they must have taken them down to avoid fines.

  10. I passed some of their disgusting posters in Limerick t’other day.I didn’t have any montana cans with me at the time.

  11. I complained under the litter act about these bing on the lamposts etc (Cork city Co.).. In fairness the guy on the phone was as Peed off as me, got the litter warden to take one down to inspect it & it appears they are exempt and are legal….. Why?? Because they are advertising a public meeting (albeit in Dublin)
    They are exempt for 30 days before & 7 days after advertised meeting… I ignore htem now & refuse o even look at them, best way

    1. but if they are advertising a non-existent meeting then they are in breach. (the rule in Dublin is 7 days prior and 7 days post meeting as it happens).

      1. Complain to DCC, Fingal etc….The more that complain the better…. They are quick enough to take down posters that go up a day early before general elections etc… I was in Students Union 20 years ago in Dublin during before the referendum & had to deal with YD, you wanna see the posters they used to use back then, actual pictures of aborted foetus from south america…. Disgusting

  12. Limerick City Council bylaws state that if the poster refers to a public meeting that the posters can be up 7 days before and 7 days after. There is no requirement in the law that the writing be a specific size or font and they do not need to get permission from the council in advance – nor does there seem to be any requirement that the content of the posters be factually correct – I have been fighting with them all day, also complained to the police and to the hotel that booked the meeting – anyone with legal knowledge that could give further advice on how to proceed at this point?

    1. Who do you contact at LCC? I would like to join you in making my complaint. The more of us that do it the more likely we are to get action taken.

  13. i did think it was really odd that the print for the meeting was really small and their facebook and twitter werent all ablazed with the millions of oul wans that had shown up!

    complain to the concil straight away no doubt they will be pulling them down now theyve been rummbled

  14. DCC can also refuse permission for posters that are offensive. A campaign to the Chairperson of said Council might work well!

  15. Tbh, who cares if they broke DCC rules? Frankly I hate Youth Defence, but still.

    I suppose I agree with the point about how other groups have been fined. DCC is selective in how they apply their rules.

    1. I’d prefer YD to have to spend €900,000, sorry that should be $900,000 before the conversion, to the council than spending it on flyers for mass-goers or buses to bring people to Dublin for their rallies. The more of their dollars they spend on fines the less they spend on lying to and bullying the public.

  16. Well done rabble. caught the dirty lying weasels again!

  17. I complained to DCC but got this reply: ”
    The City Council has investigated this issue and can confirm that a meeting was organised and a booking arranged with the hotel ( Council has documentary evidence to that effect).
    The organisers and other attendees did attend the hotel for the meeting but the meeting did not proceed as there appears to have been a mix up in the booking arrangements.

    The Council therefore is satisfied that the organisers have not breached the terms of the Postering Protocol and will not be pursuing the matter further.

    Kind Regards,

    Hugh Coughlan
    Administrative Officer”

  18. Now that the truth regarding booking the room has been relayed to you by DCC, do the honourable thing and take down this post – its dishonest and untruthful.

  19. I emailed DCC last week about the posters as I, like most people, could not see the teeny tiny advertisement for an event at the bottom of them. I was told that YD were in keeping with the bylaws as they were advertising an event. I just rang YD there to ask about the “meeting” and the guy on the phone told me he attending the meeting. Upon further questioning he said it actually didn’t take place as there had been a mix up with the hotel and they had been turning people away saying there was no meeting on. He said there was about 6 or 7 people there waiting and that more had been turned away.

    Now I find it very very strange that an organisation would spend thousands of euros putting posters all over the city for an event, yet not one person thought to double check the venue – or even make the venue provide a room when the mix up was discovered at the time. Was a YD representative not there in advance to get set up with mics, posters etc? Surely they would have realised the error and made alternative arrangements. This was obviously a massive event for them seeing as they spent so much money and effort telling us about it…..or could it be that they just wanted to stuff their lies and manipulative messages down our throats for a couple of weeks?

  20. Dear Ms. Byrne,

    The City Council has investigated this issue and can confirm that a meeting was organised and a booking arranged with the hotel ( Council has documentary evidence to that effect).
    The organisers and other attendees did attend the hotel for the meeting but the meeting did not proceed as there appears to have been a mix up in the booking arrangements.

    The Council therefore is satisfied that the organisers have not breached the terms of the Postering Protocol and will not be pursuing the matter further.

    Kind Regards,

    Hugh Coughlan
    Administrative Officer

  21. i also rang Wynne’s Hotel and spoke to a manager. He confirmed that no meeting took place but could not go any further in telling me whether or not they had made a mistake with the booking, or if a booking had been made.

  22. I just received this as a reply from DCC
    Dear Ms. Neue,

    I can confirm that these Youth Defence posters did have permission to be displayed in the DCC area.
    Permission was granted under the Environment & Engineering Department Posters Protocol.
    These posters are advertising a public meeting/event, details of which are printed on the bottom of the poster: Sat 22/06/13 at 5:00pm.
    Permission was granted to erect 400 of these posters and they could be erected from 16th June 2013. All posters and fixings cable ties must be removed within 7 days of the event/meeting, i.e. by 29th June 2013.
    Please note for your information thatthe City Council has investigated this issue and can confirm that a meeting was organised and a booking arranged with the hotel ( Council has documentary evidence to that effect).

    The organisers and other attendees did attend the hotel for the meeting but the meeting did not proceed as there appears to have been a mix up in the booking arrangements.
    The Council therefore is satisfied that the organisers have not breached the terms of the Postering Protocol and will not be pursuing the matter further.

    Kind Regards,
    Hugh Coughlan

    Administrative Officer

  23. jeez, this is embarassing, will ye stop trying to drum up a story where there isn’t one. It destroys any credibility you might have. How many people have to contact the council to confirm what was said?

  24. I’d advise you delete the obvious untruthful and slanderous comments

    1. Hi Clodagh – thanks for all the comments. Can you highlight which part of our post you believe to be “dishonest and untruthful” and which comments are “obvious untruthful and slanderous”? Thanks

  25. No bother, the ones where people are accusing them of lying (on this particular issue), being caught out lying, breaking rules, I mean they have proof they that a meeting was booked

    1. they are provisonally booking meeting all over the country that have not intention of having,so they can have their posters up…

      Clever,liars that they are..

  26. Seriously, the fact that this post is still up shows how absolutely averse you are to the facts. It is damaging and stupid. I won’t be reading your publication again as I will never be fully confident if I am getting facts or fiction and spiteful fiction at that.

  27. There are 3 simple solution to these posters

    (1) a ladder and a knife – rip the feckers down

    (2) a ladder, lighter fluid and a box of matches – burn them down

    (3) paintbombs

  28. Pingback: Spontaneous Pro-Choice Protest takes place outside the Life House | Abortion Rights Campaign Ireland

  29. These posters are still up in Cork, thought they should be taken down by now?

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