A Meath County Councillor has called for books which use offensive, racial language to be banned from the school curriculum.
These would include works such as Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' and John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'.
Councillor Alan Lawes told Newstalk Breakfast he believes they are not suitable for younger children.
"I was approached by two different mixed-race families who had told me their experiences over the years.
"It's nothing to do, as such, with the Black Lives Matter campaign just recent.
"One woman, Karen, has three children aged from 22, 18 and 14 - and the three of them sailed through primary school with all their school mates without an issue.
"Then they came to first year, and these sort of books are on the curriculum in first year.
"You have certain racial slurs that's repeated in these books numerous times, and then their classmates all of a sudden start to use these racial slurs to call them names.
"And it's happened repeatedly with the two families.
"The mothers went up to the secondary schools, had a chat with the secondary teachers and basically there was nothing that could be done.
"[They were told] that it was a decision for the Department of Education and the Minister for Education.
"So that's why I originally put the motion forward to remove the books.
"There was some discussions at the Meath County Council meeting, and there was some opposition to my motion.
"In defence, people thought we should have a review rather than to ban the books out of the curriculum altogether."
"These families in question, Shane, they have experienced racism on a daily basis.
"Once them books were on the curriculum for 12-year-olds, I don't think 12-year-olds have the mental capacity to deal with such books.
Acknowledging that 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' is "a classic", he added: "The racial slurs that's used repeatedly, the 12-year-old kids thought it was OK if they used them slurs".
Listen back to the full interview here.
