Problem in calling a method in a module.

I having a Module UIMessagesMod. In that module, i have used a method with the name DisplayMessages. Please find the code below.

Module UIMessagesMod

  Public Function DisplayMessages(ByVal LabelControl As Web.UI.WebControls.Label, Optional ByVal RemoveMessages As Boolean = True) As Int32

  Return RowCount

    End Function

End Module.

I tried to call DisplayMessages in the master page, but it leaves me an error saying

"'DisplayMessages' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level."

can any one have the solution for this.