How Ireland became a suburb of Hollywood

Richard Devane SJ
By Martin Walsh
Messenger Publications, 176pp, £23/$24.50

For many Irish people nowadays, flicking through the pages of Martin Walsh’s book on Fr Richard Devane SJ will trigger a fit of the giggles. Or the creeps. Here was a social reformer who devoted himself to causes that, in these times, only get an airing in order to show how far the country has come. Devane (1876-1951) was, for instance, tireless in his effort to rid the nation of evil literature. He whisked women off the streets of Dublin’s red-light district to take them on convent retreats. He put his mind to defeating communism. He pressed remorselessly for greater regulation of dance halls, cinemas and public bathing. A few weeks before his death, he was struggling against illness to combat the importing of British newspapers.