The six-month ban on In Dublin issued by the Censorship of Publications Board will renew debate about the workings of a board which has largely managed to escape media attention in recent times.
The In Dublin ban is the first time in recent years that a board decision has affected a mainstream magazine. The titles of other publications banned in recent months would suggest their content is unambiguously pornographic.
The Best of Asian Babes, Posh Wives and 40 plus were three of six periodicals to have bans announced in the March issue of Iris Oifigiuil.
Books banned in the last 18 months included Butchboys: Stories for Men who Need it Bad,A Moist Urge and Velvet Tongued Suzi.
While In Dublin would not be considered a "top shelf" publication, the ads at the back have been a cause of controversy.
The fact that brothels have been contacted through advertisements in In Dublin has been referred to by gardai in a number of successful prosecutions of brothel managers and owners.
However, there has been no suggestion that the magazine's publishers were aware that some of their advertisers were offering sexual favours for money.
The Censorship of Publications Board says In Dublin was banned because the issues of the magazine it considered "have usually or frequently been indecent or obscene".
A spokeswoman said they could not be more specific about the reasons for banning an individual publication.
Indecent is defined in the 1946 Censorship of Publications Act as referring to material "suggestive of, or inciting to, sexual immorality or unnatural vice or likely in any other similar way to corrupt or deprave".
The last cause celebre to come before the board was Madonna's Sex. The book, which contained sexually explicit text and photographs of the singer acting out some of her sexual fantasies, was banned in November 1992.
More than 2,500 copies of the £25 book were sold in the 23 days between its arrival in the State and the publication of the board's ban.
The board has also banned the British newspaper, Daily Sport, which had an Irish circulation of around 10,000.
The board, the members of which are appointed by the Minister for Justice, does not have power to seize magazines or other publications on its own initiative. It can only act on a complaint from a member of the public.
It is also be open to the Garda Siochana or Customs and Excise to refer a publication to the board.
Complaints must be in writing and must by accompanied by copies of the book or periodical. Complainants may mark the parts they consider to be indecent or obscene.
The board has not revealed the identity of the person or organisation who complained about In Dublin.
According to the Department of Justice, the board "may prohibit the sale and distribution in the State of any publication which in its opinion is indecent or obscene or advocates abortion, or in the case of a periodical, devotes an unduly large proportion of space to the publication of matter relating to crime".
The board can ban a magazine for up to nine months when it is first referred to it. The length of the ban depends on how frequently the periodical is published.
Books remain banned for 12 years.
The author, editor or publisher of a book or periodical prohibited by the board can appeal to the Censorship of Publications Appeal Board. That course can also be undertaken by five members of the Oireachtas.
The principal legislation governing censorship of publications is the Censorship of Publications Act 1929 and the Censorship of Publications Act 1946.
The Censorship of Publications Act 1967 allowed prohibition orders on books to expire after 12 years rather than remain in place indefinitely as had been the case.
The Health (Family Planning) Act 1979 amended the legislation "in regard to publications advocating the unnatural prevention of conception", and the Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies) Act, provided for publications containing "lawfully available information relating to the termination of pregnancy outside the State".