DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has been criticised for refusing permission for posters advertising an anti-Trump protest to be erected in the capital. 

US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in Ireland on Saturday for a two-day visit that will see him meet with President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin before attending the Irish Open at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare. 

The Irish Neutrality League (INL) said it was “very disappointing” that two designs for posters for the demonstration were rejected, while a third that does not feature Trump’s image was accepted.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy described it as “censorship”. 

A protest against Trump’s visit is set to take place at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin at 1pm on Saturday. The Irish Neutrality League, the main organisers of the demonstration, applied to the council to erect posters advertising it. 

Anyone who wants to display posters on public property in Dublin city centre to advertise public meetings or events must seek permission from Dublin City Council at least seven days in advance.

There are a number of stipulations set out on the council’s website, including that the name and picture of the individual hosting the event can only take up 25% of the poster, that they must not obscure road signage and that they must be securely fixed. 

Dublin City Council can refuse permission for or remove posters “that are not in accordance with the permission granted or that we deem to be vulgar or offensive”. 

‘No welcome for Trump’

The INL submitted an initial poster to the council, which displayed Trump’s image in a red circle with a line through it and “No welcome for Trump” encircling it.

The posters that were rejected by Dublin City Council. Irish Neutrality League Irish Neutrality League

The words “climate denier”, “racist”, “genocide complicit”, “warmonger” and “Epstein class” were also displayed on the poster, which was refused. 

Jim Roche, public relations officer and founding member of the INL, told The Journal that he can understand if the council had concerns about the first design. 

“I think [the first poster] could be viewed, legalistically, as problematic, so that was fine. We were happy to change it,” he said. 

A second design was then submitted with those adjectives removed and the words “not welcome” encircling the same image of Trump with a red line through it.

This poster was also refused. In an email seen by The Journal, the council said that it “cannot approve any poster containing language or graphics that could reasonably be construed as causing offence”.

“This applies not only to the person or business referenced on the poster, but also to any member of the public who may read the content or view the graphics displayed.”

It continued: “The Council must enforce this protocol rigorously and consistently to minimise the risk of potential litigation from any person or business that may be adversely affected by the poster’s content.”

‘Outrageous’

Three other designs were subsequently submitted to the council. A poster with the slogan ‘No to wars and militarism, yes to Irish neutrality’ and without any image of Trump was accepted. 

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The poster that was accepted. Irish Neutrality League Irish Neutrality League

“It’s a big compromise on our part,” Roche said. “It’s very disappointing, I have to say.”

He said that the message the INL took from it was that “any image that would suggest that people in Ireland are protesting against the US president was not going to be allowed.”

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy took to social media to criticise the decisions. Speaking to The Journal, he said:

I think it’s outrageous that our right to freedom of expression is being denied in favour of not causing Donald Trump – the world’s biggest warmonger – offence.

“It’s an incredible case of censorship by Dublin City Council to prevent Donald Trump or his acolytes seeing posters on the streets of Dublin that say he’s not welcome – which I am very strongly of the opinion is the view of the majority of the Dublin public and Irish public.”

Murphy said that while his party has had to “go back and forth” with the council in the past due to the size of a poster or a candidate’s name on a poster, he had “never come across this before.”

He also stressed that posters had previously been erected in Dublin describing Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza as a genocide. 

“The government believes it’s the case. That’s going to offend some people who support Israel and say that it’s not genocide; it’s legitimate self-defence. But we’ve been allowed to put up such posters.”

Dublin City Council declined to comment.