There is little in the way of film censorship in Ireland.
Contents
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. Since the release of Michael Collins in 1996, which was initially rated PG (before being upgraded to 12 for DVD), and despite its depictions of strong violence, the censors office has reduced age ratings in general and rarely cuts films.
Ratings usually match those of the UK, or are one level higher or lower. In 2000 The Cider House Rules received an 18 certificate in Ireland due to its themes of abortion and incest, despite the fact that in UK the film received a 12 certificate. In a similar case in 2008, Frost/Nixon received a PG certificate in Ireland but a 15 certificate in the UK due to four uses of strong language and use of archive war footage.
Film ratings
Eight film rating categories exist, although a film may have been re-rated by the time of its video/DVD release.
There are 3 former categories no longer in use:
The G, PG and 18 certifications have the same principles on video, but some 18s films may be denied a video release certificate.
Films which are banned and do not have an appeal lodged, or which fail on appeal, have an enforcement noticed published in Iris Oifigiúil, the state's journal. The most recent enforcement notice, as of 2005, appeared in the 20 September 2005 journal, and was the first of the year. Revocation notices are also published in the journal, where a film has been banned and then allowed. The 2010 DVD release of the 1978 film "I Spit on Your Grave" is the most recent instance of an IFCO ban.
Legislation
The main legislation under which Irish films are censored are:
Previously banned films
Many films have been banned in Ireland, including Monty Python's Life of Brian, Fantasia, From Dusk Till Dawn and A Clockwork Orange. A review in 2000 has meant that many of these have since been un-banned and rated anywhere from G to 18. During that review process it was decided that no more films would be banned for either theatre or video release, but some bans are still in place.
The Film Censors Office's official figures state that 2,500 films received theatrical performance bans, and over 11,000 films were cut, between the 1920s and 1980s.
The most notable recent ban was that of Boy Eats Girl in 2005, a film starring Irish actress Samantha Mumba, due its graphic depiction of a suicide attempt. Following an appeal, it was allowed pass uncut to a 15A rating, far from the highest possible.
Prior to the Video Recordings Act 1989, many films which were banned in the cinema were freely available on video tape to anyone in Ireland regardless of age.
Exceptions
The restrictions applied to commercial cinemas did not apply to film clubs. The Irish Film Theatre (1977–84), its predecessor, the Irish Film Society and its successor, the Irish Film Institute, specialised for decades in showing arthouse films that were uncut because films shown privately were not required to be examined by the Censor's Office. The National Film Institute (later Irish Film Institute) had originally been set up to comply with the 1939 encyclical Vigilanti Cura. At one time this gave rise to a legal anomaly where the 35 mm prints of a particular film would to be required to have any "cuts" mandated by the Film Censors Office whereas the 16 mm prints were not, on the erroneous belief that all 16 mm prints were destined for private film clubs. In practice, some commercial cinemas in smaller towns as well as "travelling cinemas" (often showing films in village halls owned by the Catholic Church) were only equipped to show the 16 mm prints. The closure of virtually all of these smaller cinemas (owing to the rising popularity of television and video) has meant that nowadays the only places showing these 16 mm prints are bona fide film clubs.