Links to the websites of Ivana Bacik, Martin Hogan and Senator Shane Ross flashed up at the bottom of the "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" website this week.

The website refers to itself as "the great internet swearword project" and offers browsers the opportunity to "vote on your favourites or add your own.

"The great internet swear word project aims to find the best swear word in the world according to you, the internet, " explained the website.

"Each visitor to this page is offered a choice between two randomly selected user-submitted swear words and over the course of many thousands of votes, an accurate picture of the group preference emerges."

Bacik said: "I haven't heard of this website and people's websites are linked to other sites all the time on the internet.

"The internet is a place for freedom of expression and I think that people who use the internet are savvy enough to know that the link on this webpage is just a virtual link and not a real one.

"Legally, once it is not libellous, it is fine as people will realize there is no real or actual link. This internet link does not imply that I have made any endorsement or approval of the website." Hogan and Ross were not available for comment when contacted by the Sunday Tribune.