TP O'Mahony: O’Connor’s SNL episode a brave step towards a modern Ireland

Sinéad O'Connor rips up a photo of the Pope in 1992.

AS 1992 dawned it was evident that the moral monopoly which the Catholic Church had enjoyed since the foundation of the State in 1922 was seriously weakened.

The first big setback for the Church had occurred in 1985 when Dáil Eireann, in opposition to the Catholic bishops, had passed a law legalising the use of contraceptives.