Has not the time come for a frank discussion of Irish morals ? Certainly the subject is in all thoughtful minds; for the newspapers will not suffer them to evade it. Throughout the centuries Ireland has enjoyed a high reputation for the cardinal virtues of social life. She was famous for her men's chivalry and for her women's modesty. To-day every honest Irishman must admit that this reputation is in danger. There is irony in the fact that at this very time, when the Free State Government has declared war on English newspapers, the Irish newspapers are forced, almost daily, to touch matters which are both wicked and disgusting. We have published during recent weeks reports of trials, and statements by judges and magistrates, which suggest that in many parts of the twenty-six counties, especially in the South and West, the standards of sexual morality are lamentably low.
The abominable crime of rape figures often in the police reports. Infanticide is common - one judge has described it as "a national industry" - and the reports of cases in which unmarried mothers have been brought to trial for this crime indicate a general looseness of manners, a contempt of moral decencies, that are a wholly new feature of Irish life.
The Irish Times,
March 2nd, 1929.