Madam, - Where exactly do our politicians, customs officials and gardaí stand in relation to "pornographic" material and what is deemed to be such.
1. Every third hotel in the country is now offering paying guests a choice of XXX-rated movies for enjoyment in their rooms.
2. Many convenience stores and petrol stations around Dublin are offering "hard core" magazines for sale. These are blatantly on show right beside general magazines and newspapers, certainly within the grasp of a 13-year old child.
3. Hard-core and semi-hard- core books and literature are readily available from our large bookshops.
I highlight the above to show that we do have a problem with our laws and with what is deemed pornographic and offensive.
As an adult store for over 14 years, we have been raided constantly by customs and gardaí.
Our stock has been confiscated and seized, our business interfered with and disrupted. We are selling nothing that is "offensive"; but what is "offensive"? One customs official deems a DVD offensive and the next one does not. That is the situation we find ourselves in.
We pay VAT and PRSI to the Revenue Commissioners and they are very happy to accept our payments on our products, while on the other hand customs (which is part of Revenue) seize our goods and deem our material offensive. Is there another law for hotels, convenience stores, petrol stations and large book stores and why don't they comply with the outdated 1876 Act?
I call on the Government to amend this act and implement licences for adult stores, thus bringing us into the 21st century like our civilised neighbours in Europe. - Yours, etc.,
P.J.B. BYRNE, Basic Instincts, South William Street, Dublin 2.