Father Devane's fears of moral ruin through reading British newspapers are now rarely expressed; today the fears of imported media are not so much moral as commercial.
Yet there is also a cultural question raised by the changes in our newspaper market. Irish newspapers were traditionally involved in the rather lofty ideals of nation-building, reporting politics and economics in a generally serious way. The success of the British competition would suggest that there is now a large section of Irish people who do not necessarily want that.
The result has been a growing tabloidisation of the Irish media. There was a time, not too long ago, when the Irish media just did not report sex scandals.
In the past three years that has changed, and the change has coincided with two factors: the increased marketing of some British newspapers, and their willingness to bring British traditions to Irish stories; and a questioning within Irish society itself, especially about issues concerning the Catholic Church.
The first breach of the dyke was probably the reporting of the Bishop Casey affair in The Irish Times in 1992. Bishop Eamonn Casey of Galway, it was reported, was the father of a son by an American woman. The Irish Times treated it as a story about the misuse of diocesan money - but for most people it was nothing of the sort. Here was the unspeakable being printed, a story about the private life of a bishop. And Annie Murphy was willing to go into the most incredible detail about the affair.
Within six months, there was the story of a junior minister, Emmet Stagg, reported to have been found by gardai in a part of the Phoenix Park frequented by gay men. That story was published in the Sunday Press, surrounded by innuendo. At the time, it was assumed the struggling Sunday Press published the story because of fear that a British newspaper would do so if it didn't.
Soon after that, the Sun published a story about a singer, Chris De Burgh, who it said was having an affair with his child's nanny. There was remarkably little coverage of this in Irish newspapers - little more than reporting the Sun's allegations. However, six months later the story emerged again, and this time the Star led the pack, afraid it would lose out to the Sun.
tabloids in decline?
Amidst all the sleaze, there are signs that the tabloid press is in decline. The latest sales figures in Britain shows a decline of nearly 5 per cent in sales of four tabloid 'red-top' newspapers for the six months up to January. Sales on Sunday are also down. Meanwhile, the papers that cater for the 'middle market' have grown by nearly 5 per cent.
So that market is now the place to be. Thus editors have looked harder at attracting women readers. There are strong signs that the tabloids have tried to appear 'softer'. There are also signed that the British public has reacted in a quiet way to the death of Princess Diana and the subsequent criticisms of the tabloid press.