A century ago, Kevin O’Higgins set the ball rolling for decades of draconian censorship that would lead to bans on books by the likes of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and Edna O’Brien
‘Material coming through the post was censored’: Podcaster Dr Aoife Bhreatnach with some banned books at her home in Cork. Photo: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
It was widely believed that measures were needed to stem the “tide of filth” coming into the new Irish Free State, so on February 12, 1926, 100 years ago next week, justice minister Kevin O’Higgins announced the appointment of a Committee on Evil Literature.
A day earlier there were, according to the Freeman’s Journal, “riotous scenes in the Abbey Theatre” for Sean O’Casey’s new play, The Plough and the Stars – a repeat of 1907 when riots targeted The Playboy of the Western World.