WATCH: Kildare council candidate 'cleaning old posters rather than printing new ones'

One Kildare election candidate has opted to break out the mop and clean her old election posters rather than print new ones in a video posted online ahead of the local elections.

With voters set to go to the polls for the upcoming local elections on June 7, candidates have been busy canvassing and erecting posters across the county. 

Election candidate Suzanne Doyle, seeking re-election for her fifth term, has taken an admirable approach to her election posters by reusing old posters from her previous campaigns.

Doyle was co-opted to Kildare County Council in 2003 to replace Seán Ó Fearghaíl following the abolition of the dual mandate. She successfully held her seat in the 2004, 2009 and 2014 local elections, and even ran in the 2020 General Election.

A native of Kildare town, Ms Doyle runs the family business, the Five Jockeys pub.

In the video posted to her TikTok account which has racked up over 125,000 views in four days, Ms Doyle can be seen cleaning an array of her election posters from her previous terms. 

“I'm cleaning old posters rather than printing new ones because I have plenty them,” Ms Doyle begins the video.

“It’s a little bit frightening when I see the lines around the eyes now towards the original posters - politics clearly isn't good for your complexion!” she jokes. 

“I wasn't going to put up many posters, and I still am not, but I have oodles at home and people keep asking where my posters are. I'm going to just prepare some to put out in key locations and wash them down because it's just years of dust on them. 

“This is probably one of my first posters. God above! We don't give ourselves enough credit when we're younger, do we?” Doyle quips before continuing: “Anyway we're getting lovely weather so it's no bother hanging out a few posters.”

Ms Doyle goes on to compare running or working in a pub to being a councillor and also addresses the challenges facing her local constituents, including social infrastructure. 

“You know what, sometimes I think running a pub or working in a pub isn't far from it. It's certainly a good education on how to look after people and listen to people's problems.

“The county is so big now we've nearly a quarter of a million people in Kildare, whereas before we were predominately a rural county, where now we're an urban one. 

“That brings huge challenges around delivering infrastructure, social infrastructure. So hopefully that's going to be the priority for the next council.”

@suzannedoyle.cllr Common sense for the common good. #fiannafail #localelections2024 #kildare #countycouncil ♬ original sound - Cllr Suzanne Doyle

As she stares at the now clean posters, Suzanne remarks: “I wonder should I even use this one because it's totally unrecognizable, do you think?

“Actually, that's the thing - none of them have glasses and I'm now wearing glasses. Well, I'm certainly not drawing them in!”

The Local Elections take place on June 7 as people in 26 counties vote to form 31 councils across Ireland.