Labour Minister of State Kathleen Lynch has said a controversial advert depicting Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams as newlyweds will not be officially used by the party in the election campaign.

Ms Lynch said negative campaigning was not an avenue Labour should go down and that the draft ad was offensive.

“I would be offended by it as someone who fought very hard for equal rights not just for people who are gay but for everyone,” she told the PJ Coogan show on Cork’s 96FM. “I believe the Labour Party had a very good story to tell on this issue because without us in Government this referendum would never have happened.”

Ms Lynch said she was thankful that party leader Joan Burton had the “common sense” to have the same instinctive reaction as her to the advert.

Tweets .@DonaldClarke63 did a good piece in @IrishTimes yesterday about contrived outrage. He already has first item for the 2016 list. #labourad — Matt Cooper (@cooper_m) January 3, 2016 Ah lads, seriously? I have to say I don't find this offensive in the least. Or funny. Though Mick is rocking the shirt & tie! #labourad — Colm O'Gorman (@Colmogorman) January 3, 2016 Kind of incredible that Labour are so clueless as to turn one of the few positives they've achieved in government into a negative attack ad. — Una Mullally (@UnaMullally) January 3, 2016

The Cork TD said the Photoshopped image came from an outside agency and was suggested to the party as a possible route for them to go down.

However, she believes the ad will be a non-runner for Labour.

“You would also have to say the old story of ‘who benefits?’ (from the leak). My big question would always be ‘how the hell did this get out?’ I am not certain where it comes from,” she said. “My instant reaction was to text people who would have known about this. When I text them they said this was something that got in to the media and shouldn’t have.”

She added that the agency were probably instructed to push the party’s hard work on the marriage referendum to the forefront and the broad remit was misinterpreted.

In the ad, Mr Martin and Mr Adams are wearing morning suits and the “wedding party” also includes TDs Richard Boyd-Barrett, Paul Murphy, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly.