Contraception in Ireland
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 2 November 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Believe it or not, it was a crime to sell contraception in Ireland between 1935 and 1979. The Irish government also banned all literature on family planning for decades as well. This had a profound impact on life in Ireland. Couples couldn't plan families or engage in recreational sex without fear of pregnancy. This devastated relationships and left many people with a very limited understanding of sex and pregnancy.
In this podcast I interview Dr Laura Kelly from the University of Srathcylde. Laura is a leading expert in this area and she explains the background to contraception in Ireland, why it was banned and the devastating consequences of the ban.
Find out more about Laura's research and publications here.
Follow Laura on twitter here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, just a quick heads up before you dive into the episode. |
| 0:03.6 | My new book, Alita Legacy, a history of Ireland in 18 murders is coming out on September |
| 0:08.4 | the 14th. |
| 0:09.5 | You can still pre-order your copy today, or if you're going to be in Dublin next week, |
| 0:13.8 | it will be great to see you at the launch. |
| 0:15.8 | It's on at 6pm on Thursday, September the 14th in Hodges figures. |
| 0:20.8 | That's 6pm on September the 14th in Hodges figures on Dawson Street in the city center. |
| 0:26.2 | Swing in on your way home from work, it'll be a great event. |
| 0:28.8 | Sure I'll see you there. |
| 0:37.6 | Public discussions around sex were traditionally something of a taboo subject in Ireland. |
| 0:43.1 | Indeed the country was well known as one of the most conservative democracies in Europe |
| 0:47.5 | in the 20th century. |
| 0:49.2 | However, even in light of this, the history and attitudes of the authorities towards contraception |
| 0:55.2 | still shocks many. |
| 0:56.9 | Believe it or not, through much of the 20th century, contraception of all kinds was banned in Ireland. |
| 1:04.4 | So extreme was the attitude towards contraception that not only were things like condoms and |
| 1:09.6 | IUDs banned, but even literature about family planning was censored. |
| 1:14.5 | Now in this podcast, I interviewed Dr. Laura Kelly, a senior lecturer in the history |
| 1:19.2 | of health and medicine in the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. |
| 1:24.1 | Laura is an expert in this area and she explains why the government banned contraception, |
| 1:29.3 | what the far-reaching consequences of this ban were on Irish society, particularly |
| 1:34.0 | Irish women, and how it was eventually overturned. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Fin Dwyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Fin Dwyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.