Supermac’s has seen its social media accounts shut down after the GAA threatened legal action over the fast food chain’s latest April Fool's joke.

The Galway-headquartered chain is currently in talks with Meta to get its Facebook and Instagram accounts reinstated after its pages were taken offline.

On Monday, the company posted an image of Croke Park and joked that the GAA stronghold was to be renamed ‘Supermac's Croke Park’.

Solicitors for the GAA then wrote to Meta threatening legal action, resulting in Supermac’s Facebook and Instagram pages being taken offline.

The pages have still not been reinstated three days later.

"Gross overreaction"

A Supermac’s source noted that the Croke Park post was very clearly marked as an April Fool’s joke – with the company making that clear in the first comment.

The source labelled the solicitor’s letter a “gross overreaction on behalf of the GAA and Croke Park to what was very obviously an April Fool's joke”.

“By very obviously, I mean we actually said it in the comments,” they said.

'Registered trademark'

A GAA spokesperson told Newstalk that ‘Croke Park’ is a registered trademark.

“The use of any registered trademark is not permitted, in jest or otherwise, where it is clearly being used for advertising purposes and in this case on a business account,” they said.

The spokesperson also noted that Supermac’s first published its post on March 31st rather than on April fool’s Day itself.

April Fool's

Supermac’s has a history of getting in on the April Fool’s fun, with previous announcements including the rollout of Supermac’s snack boxes on Aer Lingus flights and the grand opening of a Supermac’s restaurant in Dublin’s Copperface Jacks nightclub.

The company also announced it was launching its own Formula 1 team ahead of the 2018 season.

This year’s prank came after Cork’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh was renamed SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The GAA has been contacted for comment.