Parties criticise 'juvenile' draft Labour advert portraying Adams and Martin as gay couple

Labour has insisted a controversial advert depicting Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil leaders Gerry Adams and Micheál Martin as a just-married gay couple was never meant to run after widespread criticism of the draft election campaign.

Parties criticise 'juvenile' draft Labour advert portraying Adams and Martin as gay couple

Fiachra Ó Cionnaith, Political Reporter

Labour has insisted a controversial advert depicting Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil leaders Gerry Adams and Micheál Martin as a just-married gay couple was never meant to run after widespread criticism of the draft election campaign.

A senior Labour spokesperson was forced to distance the party from the tongue-in-cheek reference to the potential alternative to the current coalition after a copy of the image was leaked to the media this weekend.

The image depicts Mr Adams and Mr Martin celebrating a de facto political marriage beside Independent TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly and left-wing colleagues Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett alongside the tag-line: "This is one marriage we should vote NO to this year."

However, despite being drawn up by an advertising agency regularly used by Labour in December after specific suggestions on what message it should get across and the fact it mirrors recent Labour and Fine Gael claims a vote for Fianna Fáil is effectively a vote for a coalition government with Sinn Féin, Labour has insisted the advert was never meant to be aired.

"As one element of our campaign, we considered some draft adverts to make a serious point in a light-hearted way," a senior spokesperson said.

"This version makes the point that at the next election, voters will have a choice between the stable, balanced government offered by Labour and Fine Gael, or a marriage of convenience between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin that would destroy Ireland's hard-won progress over the last five years.

"Fianna Fáil caused the bust in the first place and Sinn Féin would return us to bust with their policies," he said.

Despite claims Labour's official response is an attempt to underline their message while distancing themselves from the draft leaked advert itself, it is understood the party has not signed off on the poster campaign and is still considering at least six other options focussing on its own polices while in power.

However, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil both heavily criticised the advert, described by Fine Gael's director of elections Brian Hayes as "cheeky but funny".

A Fianna Fáil spokesperson said the party is "blue in the face" saying it will not go into power with Sinn Féin - a view strongly held by party leader Micheál Martin but questioned by a number of senior TDs - and claimed Labour is "clutching at straws".

Sinn Féin was similarly critical, with party leader Gerry Adams describing the leaked advert as a "juvenile" move that "devalues marriage equality" and shows "how bereft of genuine policy and constructive ideas Labour now is".

While the Labour advert will underline its sought-for message that Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin could enter coalition with each other, previous attempts to criticise rivals in this way have back-fired in the past.

One of the most infamous recent examples occurred during the 2010 British election, which saw Labour depict Conservative leader David Cameron as a used-car salesman alongside the tag-line "don't let him take Britain back to the 1980s".

The message led to Mr Cameron, who subsequently became British Prime Minister, receiving a boost in support among younger voters after claims it gave him a "cooler" image.

The current coalition in Ireland has also fallen foul of election campaign posters in the past, with Fine Gael repeatedly being criticised over the 2007 pledge by now-Taoiseach Enda Kenny to "end the scandal of patients on trolleys".

Labour issued a Tesco-style 2011 advert "every little hurts" which highlighted a number of cuts and planned cuts from rival parties, many of which it subsequently defended and implemented in power.

While the General Election date - widely expected to be either February 25 or February 26 - has yet to be officially called, meaning no campaign posters should be appearing yet, in reality political parties have been unofficially running their own campaigns for a number of months.

At the height of the November general election rumours in October, Sinn Féin ran eye-catching billboard posters along the quays in Dublin city centre picturing Mr Adams, deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald and finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty saying "Better off with Sinn Féin" while just before Christmas Independent Senator Averil Power was widely criticised for using the Oireachtas printing service to publish 73,000 calendars for her local constituency - which has exactly 146,000 voters.

While the breakdown means Ms Power's calendars - which included large pictures of herself and her contact details - means one was sent to every household in the area, the General Election candidate insisted it had nothing to do with the imminent general election, a claim repeatedly made by candidates across the country conducting similar information campaigns.

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