Interestingly, though, 60 years ago, another teacher was also in the news after being unceremoniously fired.
Copies of John McGahern’s second novel, The Dark, which dealt with child abuse, had been seized by Customs and Excise officers, and the work was subsequently banned by the Censorship of Publications Board.
McGahern, who worked at the time as a teacher in what is now Belgrove Boys’ National School in Clontarf, refused to take part in the protests which were organised on his book’s behalf, and was only moved to take action when the school’s principal said there would be some “difficulty” if he tried to return to his classroom.
McGahern decided “not to go quietly”. He describes in his 2005 book Memoir how he turned up at the school anyway.
The embarrassed principal read out a legal letter informing the novelist that he was “barred from entering the classroom".
Continue reading @ Sindo.