Donegal councillor lodges Dáil complaint about National Party’s emblem

A Donegal county councillor has lodged a complaint with the clerk of the Dáil that the emblem used by the National Party is offensive.

Independent councillor Micheál Choilm MacGiolla Easbuig has claimed the emblem is offensive due to its resemblance to the emblem used by the National Party in  South Africa in the 1980s. The party was responsible for implementing a program of apartheid from 1948. It was dissolved in 1997.

The councillor has written to the clerk in his role as the registrar of political parties. 

The latest register of political parties published by the clerk’s office contains the details of the National Party including the party emblem. The National Party opposes “unrestricted immigration” and is against abortion.

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The Electoral (Amendment) Act states the registrar shall not grant a request for registration in relation to an emblem if the emblem “is obscene or offensive”  or “is of such a character that its publication would be likely to amount to the commission of an offence”.

In his letter to Peter Finnegan, the councillor says he believes any logo resembling that of the South African National Party “is in clear breach of the legislation and has to be seen as having been designed to offend people from ethnic minorities and people who oppose the apartheid policies of the South African National Party”.

Commenting on the letter, the west Donegal councillor said “it is clear that the Irish National Party have looked to base their logo on that of the party that implemented the policy of apartheid in South Africa for decades”. 

“This policy which saw a white minority maintaining political and economic control of the country through a system of economic, social and political segregation of races,” he said.

The councillor has launched an online petition against the emblem being accepted by Leinster House.