{"id":619933,"date":"2026-09-10T02:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/619933\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T02:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:44:15","slug":"human-rights-group-asks-dublin-city-council-why-it-refused-permission-for-trump-protest-poster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/619933\/","title":{"rendered":"Human rights group asks Dublin City Council why it refused permission for Trump protest poster"},"content":{"rendered":"

AN IRISH HUMAN rights group has contacted Dublin City Council to ask why it refused permission for posters<\/a> advertising an anti-Trump protest to be erected in the capital.<\/p>\n

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) remarked that the posters which were banned were \u201cdirectly connected to a significant and imminent public demonstration concerning matters of public and political interest\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

Trump visit<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump is\u00a0due to arrive<\/a>\u00a0in Ireland on Saturday for a two-day visit that will see him meet with President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin.<\/p>\n

He will then attend the Irish Open at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A protest against Trump\u2019s visit is set to take place at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin at 1pm on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Irish Neutrality League (INL), the main organisers of the demonstration, applied to the council to erect posters advertising it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The INL said it was \u201cvery disappointing\u201d that two poster designs for the demonstration featuring Trump\u2019s image were rejected, while a third that does not feature Trump\u2019s image was accepted.<\/p>\n

The INL submitted an initial poster to the council which displayed Trump\u2019s image in a red circle with a line through it and \u201cNo welcome for Trump\u201d encircling it.<\/p>\n

The words \u201cclimate denier\u201d, \u201cracist\u201d, \u201cgenocide complicit\u201d, \u201cwarmonger\u201d and \u201cEpstein class\u201d were also displayed on the poster, which was refused.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"download
\n The posters that were rejected by Dublin City Council. Irish Neutrality League<\/p>\n

Irish Neutrality League\n<\/p>\n

A second design was then submitted with those adjectives removed, but this was also refused.<\/p>\n

A poster with the slogan \u201cNo to wars and militarism, yes to Irish neutrality\u201d and without any image of Trump was accepted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dublin City Council can refuse permission for or remove posters \u201cthat are not in accordance with the permission granted or that we deem to be vulgar or offensive\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Right to freedom of expression\u2019<\/p>\n

In a letter posted today to Dublin City Council\u2019s chief executive Richard Shakespeare, the ICCL asked why permission was refused for the poster featuring Trump\u2019s image.<\/p>\n

\"download
\n The poster that was accepted. Irish Neutrality League<\/p>\n

Irish Neutrality League\n<\/p>\n

The ICCL said in the letter that the right to freedom of expression is provided for in the Irish Constitution, as well as the European Convention of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom of political debate lies at the very core of the concept of a democratic society, while the right to freedom of expression includes political expression,\u201d said the ICCL.<\/p>\n

While it acknowledges that the right to freedom of expression is \u201cnot an absolute right\u201d and may be \u201csubject to lawful and proportionate restrictions\u201d, it added that \u201cany such restriction must be demonstrably justified\u201d.<\/p>\n

It noted that the Council can refuse permission for the erection of posters or notices which it deems to be \u201cvulgar or offensive\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ICCL noted that the European Court on Human Rights previously held that the right to freedom of expression also safeguards information or ideas that \u201coffend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ICCL said this means that every condition or restriction imposed \u201cmust be proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued\u201d.<\/p>\n

It went on to question the \u201clegal basis\u201d on which the Council refused permission for the posters featuring Trump\u2019s image, as well as the \u201cprocedures or policies\u201d followed before reaching this decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid DCC consider the freedom of expression rights of the applicants and, specifically, their right to engage in political expression?\u201d asked the ICCL.<\/p>\n

It also questioned the \u201caims\u201d which were identified as the basis for the initial refusal and the reasoning used for determining that such a refusal was \u201cnecessary and proportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also questioned the distinction between the poster with Trump\u2019s image and the poster without Trump\u2019s image but with the words \u201cNo to wars & militarism, yes to Irish neutrality\u201d.<\/p>\n

-With additional reporting from Jane Moore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AN IRISH HUMAN rights group has contacted Dublin City Council to ask why it refused permission for posters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[969,13288,53988,61,65020,60,263137,43927,43,3186],"class_list":["post-619933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-donald-trump","tag-dublin-city-council","tag-iccl","tag-ie","tag-inl","tag-ireland","tag-irish-neutrality-league","tag-irish-council-for-civil-liberties","tag-news","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}