In Ireland, the state retains laws that allow for censorship, including specific laws covering films, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, as well as terrorism and pornography, among others. In the early years of the state, censorship was more widely enforced, particularly in areas that were perceived to be in contradiction of Roman Catholic dogma, including abortion, sexuality and homosexuality. The church had banned many books and theories for centuries, listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
Current censorship
Film censorship
Ireland's Film Censors Office, renamed in 2008 as the Irish Film Classification Office, heavily cut films and videos for rental release, or placed high age ratings on them. In 2000 The Cider House Rules received an 18 certificate in Ireland due to its themes of abortion and incest, although in other countries, such as the UK, the film received a 12 certificate.
Advertisements
Advertisements are regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, and must be truthful and factually accurate. In addition, adverts for illegal services are not allowed. The ASAI is a voluntary industry body which has no statutory powers and has no power to remove a publication from circulation. This power is vested in the Censorship of Publications Board. Given the status of the ASAI some advertisers choose to continually ignore its rulings by running controversial advertisements purely to draw attention to their products and services.
Newspapers and magazines
Whilst still theoretically censorable, newspapers and magazines are free to publish anything which does not break Ireland's tough libel laws. The Censorship of Publications Board reviews newspapers and magazines referred to it by the Customs and Excise and by members of the public. Until the late 1980s a large number of (mainly foreign) newspaper and magazines were banned in Ireland including Playboy and the News of the World, the British edition of which was still, theoretically, banned when it ceased publication.
The listing of periodicals under permanent banning orders as of 2007 includes many publications which have ceased to be published, as well as ones which are now sold freely without any realistic chance of prosecution, such as Health and Efficiency and The Weekly News. A large proportion of the banning orders date from the 1950s or before; and a similar proportion cover true crime publications, a type which were once illegal due to a perceived risk of glorifying or encouraging criminal behaviour.
In 2011, Paul Raymond Publications successfully appealed against the ban on 5 of their publications, one of which has been banned for nearly 80 years, and these publications can now be freely sold.
Pornography
Pornography that includes any participants being beneath the Irish age of consent is strictly illegal. This includes videos, DVD, film, photographs, digital files, drawings and text descriptions. There are no other laws banning specific types of pornography in Ireland.
However, distribution of obscene material by phone can be prosecuted under the Post Office (Amendment) Act of 1951, the Director of Film Classification at the Irish Film Classification Office may ban public display of films considered to be obscene, and the Censorship of Publications Board may prohibit the sale and distribution of books and periodicals if they are found to be obscene. The magazine Playboy was illegal in Ireland until 1995.
In the 1960s, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid lobbied the Irish government to have pornography banned outright.
The government-controlled IE Domain Registry currently has a ban on all domain names it considers "offensive or contrary to public policy or generally accepted principles of morality". In particular, the domains Pornography.ie and Porn.ie are known to be banned.
Central Bank of Ireland
In July 2009, the Central Bank of Ireland blocked insurers and banks from making any critical statements containing "any references" to them by means either of "public press statements" or un-approved public references, whether "written or oral."