The campaign features a short film made by "Father Ted" creator Graham Lineham and his wife.

The film called 'Chains' criticises the Eighth Amendment to Ireland's constitution, which makes it almost impossible for a woman to have an abortion legally in the country.

Abortion is only permissible if there is a "real or substantial risk of death".

The film features black and white shots of graves, crosses and church ruins.

Neeson does a voice-over these images, saying: "A ghost haunts Ireland. A cruel ghost of the last century . . . It blindly brings suffering, even death, to the women whose lives it touches. Feared by politicians, this is a ghost of paper and ink . . . A constitution written for a different time. It is the shadow of the country we'd left behind . . . Ireland doesn't have to be chained to its past. It's time to lay this ghost of rest."

Pro-life campaigners have criticised the film as being predominantly anti-Catholic.

Matthew Archibold of the US National Catholic Register slammed the ad saying: "I expect this from Amnesty International but not from the guy who voiced Aslan"

Neeson was raised as Catholic and was named after his local parish priest.

Pro-life campaigners said Amnesty International is very quiet about the thousands of people alive in Ireland today thanks to the current law.

Lineham's wife Helen had an abortion in England after a diagnosis of serious foetal abnormality. The procedure would have been illegal in Ireland.

Women who have illegal abortions in Ireland could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.

Polls indicate significant support in Ireland for decriminalisation of the act of abortion.

Sources

• Irish Central
• Belfast Telegraph
• Daily Life
• Image: Variety

The film will be based on "Silence" by Japanese author Shusako Endo.

It is based on the story of Tome Ferreira (1580-1650), a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, who renounced the Christian faith under torture in order to save the group of Christians arrested with him.

His apostasy, however, had dire consequences when he was forced to cooperate in denouncing other Christians on Japanese territory.

Many secular and religious experts will be involved in Scorsese's epic, which will star such luminaries as Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield (who starred in the latest Spiderman movies).

Scorsese directed the controversial "The Last Temptation of Christ" in the 1980s.

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