The depredations of the Irish Censorship of Publications Board, which was set up as one of the provisions of the various Censorship of Publications Acts, are well known. Started originally in 1929, a new act was introduced in 1947 so that in the 1950s, under the law, thousands of books, periodicals, and even newspapers could not be imported or sold. Gardai visited bookshops and removed publications that were on the banned list. Many of these were international classics of literature, such as J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in The Rye, East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, and The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene, among many, many more.

            A particular irony lay in the fact that, while some Irish authors were enjoying spectacular success abroad, their books were banned in their native country. Among these Irish writers were Edna O’Brien, Brendan Behan, and John McGahern.

            Book censorship in Ireland was insidious. Apart from the official censorship board, many in the book trade were active in making sure that only those titles they thought were fit for public consumption were allowed to be sold. In 1938, when Patrick Kavanagh published his book, The Green Fool, he found that a number of prominent bookshops in Dublin refused to stock it on the grounds that it criticised the Catholic Church.

            Kavanagh was a colourful character. He went to these shops and created a disturbance; he had come to the conclusion that there was a conspiracy against him. The Guards were called. A sergeant made a report to help in deciding what to do about the matter. Then he consulted with a Catholic priest! The priest was of the opinion that if Kavenagh were to be prosecuted it would only create publicity, which would tend to increase demand for the book. So, the matter was dropped.

            In 2017, after censorship had ceased in Ireland, to all intents and purposes, a report was published that said an English schoolmaster had banned certain books from his school library. I wrote the following, rather tongue in cheek, response to this.