Sam2: I doubt it was actively discouraged by chazal given that some communities including the one living in the seat of the Catholic Church read it. Also, there is not one set of Apocrypha. Different Christian Bibles include different books. In fact Ben Sirah (not the “Alphabet of Ben Sirah” which was a poem written later but the actual book) is a standard part of the Christian Old Testament but we consider it sefarim chitzonim and don’t read it except for the handful of quotes in the gemara.
On a related note, I once heard that Ben Sirah is never quoted in yerushalmi. Can anyone verify this?