Dr Peter Kavanagh said last night that his books about his brother, the poet Patrick Kavanagh, had been banned in Ireland by court order since 1996.
Detailing the background to a crowded TCD meeting, Dr Kavanagh (88) said that in 1967, shortly after Patrick's death, he left his university professorship in the US "to devote my life to a moral obligation". He was being interviewed by John Waters of The Irish Times. Between 1967 and 1980 he had collected, revised, edited and published what became the canon of Patrick Kavanagh's work.
Seven months before he died, the poet had married Katherine Moloney, "who never demonstrated to me any interest in the publication of Patrick's work".
Patrick had left him "a heap. Using an ordinary steam iron it took me the better part of a year to smooth out the pages and scraps so they could be arranged, collected, edited," Dr Kavanagh said.
In 1975 Goldsmith Press asked permission to publish some of his books for distribution in Ireland. He accepted the offer, but Katherine sued for copyright infringement. The litigation continued for 10 years.
When she died the action was continued by five appointed trustees: "Paddy MacEntee, Leland Bardwell, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Macdara Woods and Eunan Halpin," the professor said.
Goldsmith Press eventually gave up, "and I was informed by court order that I was not to publish any more on Patrick, that all rights to Kavanagh's work were now vested in the above-mentioned trustees".
