We're talking imitation dolls . . . political action figures, if you will. From Venezuela to Washington, from London to Paris, demand is large enough to warrant the creation of these mini-mes. Except in Ireland.

For the moment, the only dolls of living Irish people are of the non-political variety . . .U2 and Westlife. The Russian doll versions of Bono and the boys are pretty rare, and even the Westlife dolls are now proving hard to find, though a lone 'Nicky' was recently seen selling on eBay for $20.95.

Elsewhere in the world, though, political action dolls are big business. So popular was the 'Chavecito' doll in Venezuela last Christmas that the replica of the revolutionary President Chavez outsold even Barbie. And no wonder.

At the pull of a chord, 'Chavecito' says, "It's your dream, it's your hope, and it's your job to be free and equal".

Three years ago, bin-Laden beat Tony Blair in the race to dominate the action-figure market. But that was then.

Herobuilders. com, the company responsible for the figures, now reports that the Iraqi information minister 'Comical Ali' is its biggest-selling figure of all time.

No one, however, appears to be making dolls of contemporary Irish political figures. David Dillon of Carroll's novelty store on Suffolk Street, Dublin says he's never seen any. "You'd be hard-pressed if you're looking for something funny, " he said.

Mary Moynihan of Prince August . . . a Cork company which makes figurines of historical figures such as Michael Collins, Eamon DeValera and Padraig Pearse among other items . . . believes there's no demand for contemporary Irish political figures. "Who'd buy them?" she said. "Today's politicians come and go.

They'd have no value." She went on, "we're not a hobbying country.

People don't want to collect things here like they do in other countries."

But some do. Donal MacErlaine from Foxrock, Dublin, is the proud owner of a set of political Russian dolls . . . Boris Yeltsin is the main figure, followed by Gorbachev, Kruschev and a pipe-smoking Stalin . . . and says he would collect military Irish dolls if they existed. "I'd like one of Willie O'Dea wearing a suit and holding a gun, " he told the Sunday Tribune.

So if someone wanted to make Irish equivalents, would it be possible for them to do so?

"This is a very grey area, " said Roisin McCann of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. "At the moment, there doesn't seem to be any law that would prevent the unauthorised exploitation of a person's image. It would probably end up in court."

And it appears that 12 inches of moulded plastic can spell trouble.

In November 2003, 450 singing and dancing dolls of Osama bin-Laden and Saddam Hussein were seized by Israeli customs on the grounds that they had the potential to incite hatred.

There is also the issue of who owns a person's image and who controls how an image can be used. This is especially pertinent in light of the revelation last month that John Lennon, Beatle and peace-activist, had become the latest figure to have his image commercialised and sold at a premium price.

Controversy was sparked by the 'John: New York Years' talking doll when it emerged the figure was being advertised online alongside figures of killers from horror movies, prompting some commentators to remark that the doll was manufactured in bad taste.

It's no surprise, then, that the New Jersey-based Unemployed Philosphers' Guild reckons its 'Little Thinker Dolls' . . . soft finger-puppets of public figures . . . are far superior to the average action doll.Among the guild's eclectic range are Mahatma Gandhi, Sigmund Freud, Che Guevara and our own literary darling, James Joyce.

In any case, political action figures are not just a by-product of our modern-day consumerist society. The first political Russian doll was created in early 1900 and depicted the Ukrainian governor, Hetman.