Irish PM backs minister who axed 'demeaning' taxpayer-funded ad telling grandparents to ask consent before hugging grandchildren

Taoiseach Mícheál Martin called opposition attacks on Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan a deliberate 'political manoeuvre'. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre clip showed a girl squirming as her grandparents moved in to kiss her. 'A lot of grandparents would have been taken aback by that ad,' Martin said. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties called the minister's intervention 'unsettling'.

On-screen text read: 'Not everyone wants a hug. Even from the people who love them.'

Two other videos from the We-Consent campaign were also pulled.

The grandparents clip had been online for five weeks before it was deleted.