Anti-war group says concert ads banned unfairly

The Irish Anti-War Movement has claimed that radio adverts for a fund-raising concert were dropped from the airwaves following a campaign of "sabotage and censorship" by the Government in advance of President Bush's visit to Ireland.

Adverts for the concert, billed as "When Bush Comes to Shove", due to take place in the Point Theatre tomorrow, had been broadcast for two days on the Dublin-based radio station NewsTalk 106FM.

However, they were dropped after the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) formed the opinion that they contravened the Radio and Television Act 1988, which bans political and religious advertising.

The controversy comes just days after the BCI ordered Today FM, FM104 and Independent Network News (INN) to stop broadcasting reports regarding opposition to the Government's decentralisation plans on the day before last week's election.

The IAWM said yesterday it had been forced to move the concert from the Point to the much smaller venue of Vicar Street. The chairman of the organisation, Mr Richard Boyd Barrett, said there was a sinister attempt to silence dissenting voices through restrictions on advertising, distribution of leaflets and placement of posters.

"There are serious issues of freedom of expression at stake here. Between the poster ban and the ban on our ads, we are being put in a position where we simply cannot advertise anti-war events," he said.

"The public should be very worried about the lengths this Government is willing to go to silence opposition. They are tramping on basic civil liberties and democratic rights."

However, the BCI rejected any suggestion of political interference and said it had been contacted by the radio station over the advertisements. A spokesperson for NewsTalk 106 was unavailable yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the BCI said the decision was taken as the IAWM was politically affiliated and the aims of the concert were political.

However, Mr Michael Foley, lecturer and course leader in journalism at the Dublin Institute of Technology, said the BCI's interpretation of the 1988 Act seemed "bizarre" and "heavy-handed".

The BCI also said it had offered the war movement a chance to make a submission regarding the adverts, but it had failed to do so. The IAWM, however, said it had sent in two submissions in the last week which did not receive a response.

The concert will feature Christy Moore, Mundy and Damien Rice among others.