Censorship move to bloom today

For decades his works were reviled, banned and burned, but today, Bloomsday, James Joyce's literary "birthday" is being marked…

For decades his works were reviled, banned and burned, but today, Bloomsday, James Joyce's literary "birthday" is being marked by an attempt to end the censorship faced by other famous authors.

The Democratic Left justice spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, says hundreds of books by authors such as H.G. Wells, Simone de Beauvoir and Upton Sinclair are still on the banned list because of their "contraceptive" content. This is because of a measure in the 1967 Censorship of Publications Act, introduced by Brian Lenihan to ease Ireland's draconian censorship laws from the 1940s.

Under the Act, a prohibition on an indecent or obscene book automatically lapsed unless it was renewed by the authorities. However, the Act failed to address the second category of books banned in the 1940s, those "advocating the unnatural prevention of conception or the procurement of abortion or miscarriage".

At the time of the Act, contraception was illegal. As a result, books such as The Good Housekeeping Bride's Book from 1958, Old Moore's Almanac 1952 and Collins Family Medical Encyclopaedia from 1955 remain on the banned list to this day.

READ MORE

The anomaly also hit books by well-known authors such as Marriage and Morals by Bertrand Russell (which was published in 1930); Nature of the Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir; Work, Wealth and the Happiness of Mankind by H.G. Wells and Birth Control Today, written by Marie Stopes in 1936.

The first stage of Ms McManus's Censorship of Publication (Amendment) Act gets its first reading in the Dail today.

Ironically, legislation on contraception introduced in 1979 removed the provision for banning a book on the grounds it advocated the unnatural prevention of conception. The provision in relation to abortion was lifted following the abortion information referendum in 1995.

"However, those books that were banned before the law changed remain banned," Ms McManus explained. Anyone who advertises or offers for sale any of these books is liable to a penalty of up to six months in prison.

A Government spokesman said last night it would consider the Bill on its merits in due course.

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen is Health Editor of The Irish Times