Paedophiles probably.

This is really a very serious infringement of civil liberties. No matter how distasteful the text is, it should not be banned. Almost all of society would be appalled by such a book and would presumably choose not to read it. If we allow others to decide what we may read, it diminishes our own autonomy and we become less by allowing others to decide for us!

Oh and the content of the book isn’t an infringement of the civil liberties of our most cherished citizens? – namely our young children and future of this country who will no doubt as adults commend the board for making what is as much a symbolic objection as it is a censorship to this depraved material that only child abusing perverts would want to read, and perhaps even act upon as it would be seen in their sick minds to legitimise the horrors and their warped fantasies contained between it’s sick covers.

Oh please, this children nonsense again. First of all, I have read many books where children are tortured, starved, burnt in a concentration camps or beaten. This does not make me want to do these sick things. Second, child rape is a huge issue in Ireland and so it is clearly something that happens, Third, the article mentions nothing about how the context of the rape in the book. Context is everything Mr. Pope. You haven’t read it and you assume its sick. Schindler’s list is sick, the boy in the striped pajamas is sick. Should I not read those either lest my simple brain be warped by the experience?

Hilarious how you took my comment out of context while at the same time lamenting me about context, you haven’t read it either but I’ll damn well take the word of once or twice in a career censors acting on their sense of ethics over your desire to have every pervert and paedophile in the country fapping off to this or possibly even worse, acting on it, seems your simple little brain is already warped.

SST aka The Pope.

Ironically enough this ban will probably make the book more popular! Just look at what happened with the life of Brian!

The author should be arrested. What kind of sick minds produce shite like this. If people think that this rubbishy should be free for children to read then they need to ask themselves very serious questions.

Well they already ban child porn in video and image format, I guess that censorship must piss you guys off as well.

@Luke kelly. I’m with you there. How dare anyone! Tell me or anyone what they can or cannot read. The only good thing is the censorship board (Quango) has pretty much been an irrelevance sense the invention of the video player, and has been totally irrelevant sense 1992 with the invention of the Internet.

Child porn and herion are banned too Thomas, does that also upset you?

Child porn and heroin are readily available to anyone who wants them despite them being banned so banning anything is ridiculous when it can be gotten hold of anyway.
Banning books especially is the most backward of all and will now just make this book more popular as is the case with anything else that has been banned previously.
Ban censorship as in this day and age it’s pointless to try to ban anything.

Ron, banning child porn is a bit different from a banning a book wouldn’t you say? The reason it’s banned is because in videos & images, actual children are abused in almost every way imaginable. There’s a reason why that’s banned, but this is a book. I don’t think an actual child was abused for this book to be written.

So as long as it’s not an actual child it’s okay? You are, I take it, fine with cartoon child porn? Our legal system isn’t. if they were banning books left right and centre, I’d agree with you. But they don’t , it’s extremely rare and sometimes it should be done, if fot no other reason as to not financially reward this kind of tripe.

I agree Michael, You will probably get someone spouting on about freedom of speech etc as an excuse to get away with writing such trite. It is this sort of shite that really does make you question the mentality of some folk. However, censored or not, Folk will get their hands on it, and by censoring it, gives some the urge to want to read it just because someone has said they can’t.

@Thomas. I couldn’t care less what you or the rest of the perverts want to read but I do care what kind of filth is available for my children to read. Of course it’s pretty clear you don’t give a shite about the welfare of children.

Do you REALLY think it’s the same thing???

Should books about taking heroin be banned too!?

Your children – your responsibility surely?

TheBull, I’ve never even seen cartoon child porn, but I’m pretty sure that would be illegal too, even if there wouldn’t be actual kids in it.

You’re wrong Keith, people have been convicted of possessing child porn for having drawn images and animated videos.

This book is obviously child porn, you can deduce that from the title and the ban. As TheBull says above, they don’t ban books left right and center. This is a case of people who have read the book exercising common sense and idiots on the internet getting offended because they believe their “right” to read and publish ’50 shades of child rape’ is being infringed on.

I was typing my comment above before Keiths comment immediately before it was published so I was replying to his earlier comment before he adapted the exact opposite position to the one he expressed in his earlier comment. apologies to all if it seems a bit confusing.

How am I wrong? I just said it would still be illegal didn’t I? Though yes your right, maybe this book is child porn. So with that in mind, I don’t want to read it and I don’t need censorship guidelines to tell me that. The ban could be repealed and it could be made available everywhere and I still wouldn’t want to.

Please read my comment immediately above yours, the one that starts with the words “I was typing”.

So if you think that people should be allowed to decide from themselves whether or not they read the book then how can you square that with cartoon porn being banned when nobody gets hurt in its creation. You can grasp that the cartoon should be banned almost instinctively, what makes the book different? Why don’t you feel that the cartoon should be available and you can decide not to watch it yourself without needing censorship guidelines to tell you that?

calm down man !!!!

Ron I realise what you said about the comments because yours came up while I was typing mine so I made the same mistake. But my original point is that censorship doesn’t work because whether it’s banned or not, anyone who wants to read it will read it. Same with the cartoons, banned or not, anyone who wants to watch them, will watch them. Either way, only a certain kind of person will do either one or the other.

Luke, again I appeal to you – please get help for your ‘issues ‘ with women. It will make you ill you know, if it hasn’t already

@ Keith McDonagh – Amazon has banned at least one book that I know of.

You’ve read it then Elaine have you?

Re: “the first book banned in Ireland since 1998.” At least we won’t have to look at it being promoted or reviewed anywhere now that the Censorship Board has had the guts to do the right thing. I certainly don’t envy them their job. And hopefully other publishers and writers will be discouraged from producing such filth for public consumption. Of course any of you who REALLY wana read it will have no problem getting it online. So no need to be self-righteous about having your reading material censored. Even if you are someone with zero interest in this sorta dark matter, remember censorship in this case is well-deserved and intended to protect that which we hold dear – our children. And basic decency. Mary Power.

Re: “the first book banned in Ireland since 1998.” At least we won’t have to look at it being promoted or reviewed anywhere now that the Censorship Board has had the guts to do the right thing. I certainly don’t envy them their job. And hopefully other publishers and writers will be discouraged from producing such filth for public consumption. Of course any of you who REALLY wana read it will have no problem getting it online. So no need to be self-righteous about having your reading material censored. Even if you are someone with zero interest in this sorta dark matter, remember censorship in this case is well-deserved and intended to protect that which we hold dear – our children. And basic decency. Mary Power

Say again? – I didn’t hear you the first time.

Just joking Mary, totally agree with you, and your comment was worth reading twice :)

How can you comment on something that you haven’t read? You are the one being self righteous here lady.

How can you either Ed? Embarrassingly stupid comment to make.

I disagree in that I’m not telling people how to think. I’m simply saying that if we haven’t read the book then how can we say for sure that this was the right thing to do. Once I have read it, then I can decide for myself if it is sick or not. I don’t have the same faith in the censorship board as you do.

Except on here of course lol and every other news site.

Including this author

Why does your argument not apply to books featuring the rape & murder of adults? Should the same criteria not be applied in those cases?

Rape and murder of adult women is degrading, antihuman and criminal. Rape of children is caused by a mental disorder called pedophilia, for which psychiatric treatment is available. Possibly censors distinguish between a book which might stimulate evil actions against children by criminally ill pedophiles, and books which highlight degrading crimes against the adult person by sane adults.

So we police everyone to ensure that a sick minority cant get their hands on something. Nonsense. That’s the society we used to live in, remember? That was not so nice for a lot of us.

The passion of St Tibulus

It was The Base Side To London ,that was the last book to be banned here.

Did I just get Poped?

But this action of censorship is removing our ability to think for ourselves on this issue. i.e to read it or not. By your logic you should be against this action. If you are turned off by some of the contents of a book then that’s cool, don’t read it, but to take away my choice to think for myself here and decide the merit of this book, by arguing that we don’t think for ourselves enough is just madness. Madness Mary, utter madness :).

Ironic with a handle like that, throwing such accusations around the place. Don’t worry Charlie, he’s fooling no one

What are you implying you creep?

Not new unfortunately, but is that what this book is about? I don’t know yet. All I’ve found online is that we are the only ones to ban it.

Mary your fussiness is denying you an education & a liberation. Before you make your mind up always open it.

Kool Tiger , I also read The Kite Runner and thought it was a great read too .

Suzie, don’t know bout you but this book had me in floods of tears so much so I had to stop taking it out with me when travelling on the tube cos I kept welling up at some of the harrowing scenes depicted in it.
Another great read by Khaled Hosseini is A Thousand Splendid Suns, if you haven’t read already give it a go.

Kool Tiger , there was sections in the book that got to me too but I had to see it through to the end , very well written , I read A Thousand Splendid Sun , enjoyed that one too . the other book got to me more though .

Perhaps you should read it before deciding it should be banned. Just sayin

Ah Mary, go rattle you rosary somewhere ya anachronistic harpie.