34 Church Road,
Ballybrack,
County Dublin

13th Feb. 1967


Dear Mr Andrews,

    In April 1965 I applied to the Censorship Board for a licence to import a copy of Anne Biesanak's book "All things new" on the grounds that I wanted it for a paper for a religious discussion group. I received the licence without any complications. (Dept. Ref. 102/268).

    Recently I applied for another licence to import the following: "Candy" by Terry Southern, "1984" by Geroge Orwell, "Borstal Boy" by Brendan Behan, and "The Dark" by John McGahern, on the grounds that I was doing a paper on the 1946 Censorship of Publications Act for a religious discussion group. The books represent a reasonable sample of the range banned under this act. I enclose a photostat of the reply I received.

    In a democracy it is of prime importance that citizens be free to study the institutions under which they live and for this reason I want to protest against the minister's refusal. Also such noted Irish Catholics as Mr. Desmond Fennell when attacked on the absurd way in which this act is implemented reply that it serves to keep pornography etc. away from those who would not normally read it but that import licences are so easily available that if one really wants a book there is no difficulty in getting it. Unfortunately the minister's reply puts paid to any such naive liberal assumptions. Have I any redress in this matter.