After complaints from residents, Dublin City Council may be forced to remove The Claddagh Embrace, Joe Caslin's mural painted on the side of a building in the city centre to raise awareness about same-sex equality. Next month, Ireland will hold a referendum on whether to legalise gay marriage.

Ireland is a traditionally Catholic country and only decriminalised homosexuality in 1993, but attitudes appear to be shifting into a more positive place – more than 40,000 people have signed the petition to keep the mural up.

But, some absolute spoilsports in Dublin don’t approve of the pro-equality mural and have complained to the council. If the council's investigation concludes that the mural has been put up illegally, then it may have to be removed.

Speaking to the Irish Times, Councillor Mannix Flynn commented, “It’s the equivalent of having an ad on the building; it’s unauthorised and constitutes a breach of the planning act.”

In an open letter to the council the team behind the petition explain, “The building owners have given consent for the mural to be placed there, there was no building, simply a paper mural being erected on the side of a building, this should not be a planning matter, as many of the buildings in the area are also dawn murals.

“This is not affecting anyone in Dublin city except for homophobic people. We live in 2015, our city is no longer intolerant, and we should be very proud of this mural, not actively trying to take it down.”

Dazed spoke to Caslin himself, but he was reluctant to say too much while the investigation remained ongoing. "The drawing is temporary by its very nature and will eventually degenerate and will be removed," he said. "However, I would ideally prefer if this took place after the referendum."

The referendum in question takes place on May 22. Come on Ireland, do the right thing.