A No to Nice Campaign poster featuring a young man pointing a gun to his head has resulted in a large number of complains to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
However, the ASA told The Irish Times yesterday that it was powerless to act on the complaints as the power of the office covered commercial ads only. The poster, which was erected over the weekend, is titled "Same Bad Treatment, Don't Be Bullied, Vote No".
The ASA received several phone calls and letters from concerned members of the public yesterday objecting to the black and white picture of a young male apparently in the process of shooting himself.
Many of the complaints were from people who said it was insensitive in the light of the increased number of young male suicides. Others said it was inappropriate in this day and age of increased violence to use a gun to put forward an argument.
The ASA spokesman said many people found it offensive and an unsuitable way in which to portray the anti-Nice Treaty argument. "Unfortunately we have no remit over political advertising. All we can tell people is to contact the PO box on the poster and voice their protest directly." A spokesman for the Public Offices Commission, which oversees standards in political life through the Ethics in Public Office Act, said the powers do not extend to advertising. "We have no function in this regard," he said.
The posters have been condemned as "crude and scare-mongering" by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, and Minister of State, Mr Tom Parlon, who said they were highly-inappropriate and offensive.
The Minister for Justice said he deplored the crude and scare-mongering poster campaign of the No campaign."These posters show a certain immaturity on the part of the No side and an indifference to the truth as well as the feelings of ordinary people. The real truth is that nobody on the Yes side in this campaign is bullying anyone else in the debate."
Mr Dan Neville TD, president of the Irish Association of Suicidology, said: "As well as offensive to many people, I also feel that they are dangerous and could be seen as suggestive to people who are suicidal and those in deep despair.