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1985 SEEMS TO have been the year pornography found Ireland if certain papers released by the National Archives under the 30-year rule are anything to go by.
A number of different issues loosely bundled together under the heading ‘Pornographic Films’ give an indication of what Irish society at the time made of risqué films.
First up is a letter from one P Caulfield from Knock, Co Mayo, imploring Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald not to ‘allow the Cork Film Festival to show the film Hail Mary on television’. The letter is written in French.
Hail Mary was an avant-garde film from renowned French director Jean Luc Godard. It concerns a sort of contemporary retelling of the story of the Virgin Mary, and was considered especially controversial due to containing full-frontal nudity among other things.
Crikey.
“I hope that the government will collaborate with the church and with the public opinion so that such a horrible event does not happen,” a rough translation of the letter reads.
A note from the Taoiseach’s private secretary asks ‘Katherine’: “perhaps you would let me know your view on this. Should we reply in English, French, or not at all?”
Katherine was evidently of the view that in this case “acknowledgement is sufficient”.
Pornography in pubs
The other items of interest on file stem from slightly earlier – 1981 and 1982 – but appear to have been no less incendiary as far as the Irish public were concerned.
A letter from Clare County Council to Taoiseach Charles Haughey in January 1981 recites a resolution the council had adopted:
That Clare County Council call on the government to investigate public showings of blue films in licensed premises.
Click here to view a larger image
In the 80s it appears to have been something of a phenomenon that pornographic films would on occasion be shown after hours in certain rural public houses.
What action or otherwise was taken by the government at the time is not noted.
Finally, a series of letters between Haughey and the Irish Countrywoman’s Association (ICA) in November 1982 (by which stage his government was set to fall in the aftermath of the GUBU scandal) detail the Taoiseach’s displeasure at the prospect of sex-shop chain Conegate setting up stall in Ireland.
This was fully 17 years before the Ann Summers chain would open an outlet on Dublin’s O’Connell Street which was a national controversy in itself at that time.
Conegate was (and still is) a company belonging to David Sullivan, who became a millionaire in the 70s via a soft-pornography empire. Currently Sullivan is co-owner of West Ham United in the English Premier League.
The ICA initially wrote to both Haughey and then Fine Gael leader FitzGerald expressing their unhappiness at the suggestion that Conegate was on its way to Ireland, and requesting a commitment that this would not happen.
Haughey’s private secretary replied that the Taoiseach “would be totally opposed to the opening of any such shops”.
He has brought your Association’s legitimate concern on this subject to the attention of the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and of the Revenue Commissioners for any action which may be necessary in the matter.
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VCR in pubs,Ten O clock closing on a Sunday night,holy hour on Sunday afternoon (best time)..limited television channels,no internet,no mobile phone,savage mortgage rates..Northern Ireland in mayhem,,Know things are still far from being perfect..but we’ve come a long way..
Being poor now and being poor then are very different experiences.
Down with this sort of thing!
Carefull now
Mad stuff..
Anyone else watch the full trailer hoping to catch full frontal nudity?
Twice
Looking back it great to see how times have changed and how we’ve matured as a society.
Where would we be without our Saturday night bluey down the local!
I don’t know about you but there a few fellow in a pub I frequent every 6 months or so and the last thing I’d like to see would be them watch porn with a few pints in them. The toilets would be a no go area.
Well said Mickmc! A very mature society indeed! So mature we cannot take care of the sick, the elderly, our prisons are packed, child abuse as bad as ever, corruption in all facets of society, drug addiction rampant, murder and violence as high as can be, homelessness in our urban areas never so high, and the list goes on.
Three cheers for maturity!!
Your fully of the joy of life this morning john. I was more thinking along the line that were not being influenced by the church. People watching porn is no big deal. What we read and watch is no longered sensored.
John… All those problems were far worse in the eighties but carry on with you’re rant.
Censored
@mickma – Yeah drunken brawls every weekend night in every town & city, drugs & violence everywhere, .. we’ve really matured.
I think you’ll find were not all doing that. I’d hazard a guess in say less than 5% of the population doing what you described above.
Thanks to our European neighbours for showing us the way forward. Without them, I’m not sure the ‘maturing’ would be so evident here.
@mickmc – doesn’t matter what %age. Its still a lot higher than 30 yrs ago. Its just not comfortable walking a street in any town or city, anymore. We live in violent times unfortunately.
Is this why most seats and floors in pubs are sticky? Ugh….
@alice simms – nope, it must be U Alice. Where do u drink?
It wasn’t just after hours in the pub. A friend of mine tells a story of going into the Central bar in Clondalkin with his father as a young lad and them having to leave after the barman pointed out to his da what they were all watching on the video. This was on a Sunday morning after sneaking out at communion time.
Je suis Mary
Well at least the ICA. And Charlie Should be proud they must have saved some amount of Rampant Rabbits from being Slaughtered to Death in the 80s
Little has changed
Look at the protests over the opening of String Fellows a few years ago
A planned sex shop near me was prevented from being opened after protests during the summer
Dublin Chambers of commerce have spoken out against sex shops in the city center
And there would still be uproar today if a regular pub started showing porn
A sex cinema in Galway was forced to close after a local politician complained.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/call-for-closure-of-porn-cinema-26447927.html
The only thing that has changed is who is protesting and their arguments
It has moved from the church and priests to feminists and interest groups
Look at protests over 50 shades of Grey
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/10/fifty-shades-of-grey-protests-imax
We are still as uptight about this as we were 30 years ago
We are prudes
have your say