The director of Amnesty International in Ireland has defended its controversial anti-racism advertisements which accuse Government ministers of lack of leadership on the issue.
Mr Sean Love said the photographs in the advertisements of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, are not meant to suggest they are racist.
The newspaper and billboard advertisements carry photographs of Mr Ahern and his two ministers with the slogan: "Some say they're involved in racism. Others say they're doing nothing about it."
A Government spokesman said the Taoiseach's office had telephoned Amnesty requesting it to remove the billboard posters because it was felt they are defamatory.
However, Mr Love said his office had received no communication from the Taoiseach's office, nor did the advertising agency which designed the advertisements.
The advertisements have also been criticised by Fine Gael's spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Mr Jim O'Keefe, who is a member of Amnesty. He has called for the advertisements to be withdrawn. A Labour Party spokesman said the party supported Amnesty's call for Government action to combat racism, but did not agree with the inference in the advertisements that the three politicians were racist.
Mr Love said he understood how the politicians would be uncomfortable with the advertisements, but said they were aimed at them not as individuals but as leaders.
He said: "What we want is moral leadership on this issue and for them to do it before it becomes a problem that's too difficult to deal with, as we have seen in the rest of Europe."
Mr Love made his remarks at the publication of the organisation's 40th annual report which highlights human rights violations in 149 countries. It said that during 2000 it had recorded illegal executions in 61 countries, unexplained disappearances in 30 and arbitrary arrest or detention in 72 countries.
The report was critical of Garda powers to detain asylum-seekers in prisons and the recent curtailment of the time limits under which they can apply for judicial reviews of negative decisions on their applications for refuge.