A Labour Party councillor is calling on the Eastern Regional Health Authority and its health boards to suspend advertising with the Sunday Independent. This follows its recent opinion column on the Paralympics which caused widespread offence.
Mr Eric Byrne wants the bodies to stop advertising in the paper for six months as a sign of their revulsion at this month's article by Mary Ellen Synon.
In her column Miss Synon said the Paralympic Games were "perverse". Physical competition was about finding the best, not about "finding someone who can wobble his way around a track in a wheelchair, or who can swim from one end of a pool to the other by Braille".
She made a front-page apology in last Sunday's edition of the paper, accompanied by apologies from its editor, Mr Aengus Fanning, and Mr Gavin O'Reilly on behalf of the board.
Mr Byrne said such apologies were admissions of guilt and a stand should be made against editors like Mr Fanning and journalists such as Miss Synon who have "stirred the pot so much that they have ruined the dignity and morality of people".
Mr Byrne said vulnerable groups targeted by Miss Synon in her columns, such as Travellers, asylum-seekers and people with disabilities used the services of ERHA and its health boards, which were major advertisers.
He would seek his party's support to table an emergency motion at next Thursday's meeting of the ERHA calling for the suspension of advertisements. He said he would also submit a motion to the South Western Health Board, and called for similar motions in the other board areas.