Back Home in Derry: The Christy Moore Song RTÉ Banned

By Chris Kennedy | Published 21st August, 2026

There are few Irish folk singers whose name is as instantly recognisable as Christy Moore. For decades, Moore has been one of the defining voices of Irish folk music, building a career that stretches back to the 1960s. His first gig was in Tallaght in 1965, before he became a professional folk singer in Britain and later helped form Planxty in the early 1970s. His songs have often mixed Irish history, politics, social commentary and everyday life, making him as much a storyteller as a singer.

Ride On and Back Home in Derry

In 1984, Christy Moore released Ride On, an album that has since become one of the best-known records of his career. Produced by Dónal Lunny and recorded in March 1984, the album brought together a fascinating collection of songs, including the title track, Vive La Quinte Brigada, El Salvador, McIlhatton and Back Home in Derry.

Back Home in Derry stood out because of the history behind it. The song was written by Bobby Sands while he was imprisoned in the Maze, and Moore later recorded his own version for Ride On. Moore himself explained that he first encountered the verses while staying with a family in Derry after a gig, where a young man who had recently returned from the H-Blocks sang them and subsequently wrote the words out for him. Moore used a melody based on Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

What Do the Lyrics of Back Home in Derry Mean?

At its heart, Back Home in Derry is a historical ballad about Irish convicts transported to Australia in the early 19th century. The narrator leaves Derry aboard a ship bound for Botany Bay, describing the chains, brutal conditions, disease, deaths at sea and the harsh existence awaiting the prisoners in Van Diemen's Land.

But the song is doing more than simply recounting history. Sands' lyrics connect the experience of the transported prisoners with ideas of rebellion, exile, suffering and longing for home. The repeated desire to return to Derry gives the song its emotional centre: these are people separated from their homeland, carrying their memories and their sense of identity with them. That combination of historical storytelling and political resonance is a big part of why the song has remained so powerful.

Why Was Back Home in Derry Banned by RTÉ?

When Christy Moore released Back Home in Derry as a single in 1984, the song ran into the political sensitivities of Irish broadcasting during the Troubles. The song was banned from RTÉ because it had been written by Bobby Sands, with contemporary accounts also linking the ban to the wider censorship surrounding republican songs.

The context matters here. Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act had created a long-running atmosphere of censorship around republican voices and material, and Moore was particularly affected by it. "McIlhatton", another song written by Sands and recorded by Moore, was also banned. Some of these restrictions were formal, while others operated more informally, with broadcasters simply avoiding certain songs altogether.

There is something particularly striking about the story of Back Home in Derry: a song dealing with events from more than a century earlier was considered too politically sensitive for the national broadcaster because of its connection to Bobby Sands and the contemporary conflict. The irony is hard to miss — a historical folk song became part of a very modern argument about censorship, politics and who gets to tell Ireland's stories.

How Is Back Home in Derry Viewed Today?

Today, Back Home in Derry is firmly established as one of Christy Moore's signature songs. The RTÉ ban is now part of the song's history, while the recording itself has travelled far beyond the circumstances in which it was originally released. The song remains widely listened to, with Spotify currently listing Moore's recording among his most popular tracks, alongside Ride On and Ordinary Man.

Its continuing appeal comes down to the strength of the song itself. Strip away the controversy and you are left with a powerful piece of Irish folk storytelling: a song about exile, imprisonment, loss, rebellion and the pull of home. But knowing the story behind its creation — and knowing that RTÉ once refused to play it adds another layer. Back Home in Derry is not simply a song about the past. It is also a reminder of the complicated relationship between Irish music, politics and censorship during the Troubles.

More than 40 years after Ride On was released, the song still resonates. And perhaps that's the real mark of a great folk song: it survives the controversy surrounding it, finds new listeners, and keeps telling its story.

Photo Credit: Christy Moore and Declan Sinnott at Vicar Street, Dublin — cybernoelie / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.