Sir, – With regard to the wording of “durable relationship” in the proposed referendum, my Oxford dictionary defines “durable” as meaning hard wearing. Surely the right wording should be “committed” relationship. – Yours, etc,
Dr PAT McGRATH,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.
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Sir, – We can put our “throuples” behind us. A Supreme Court justice is reported in The Irish Times as suggesting that the durability of a relationship might be based on whether you are “invited as a couple to weddings, do people send postcards, Christmas cards, to both of you?” (“Referendum on the family: Irish courts to decide on meaning of durable relationships in ‘hard cases’”, News, January 25th). This is intended to give a “durable relationship” recognition as a “Family”, which is the “natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law” (Article 41.1.1).
Would one round of Christmas cards be sufficient or would you need two? It is likely that there would be diminishing number of wedding invitations for the parties to verify the durability of the relationship.
If we adopted the UN definition of the family, a solemn declaration by the parties that they wish to be considered a family, with its attendant duties and responsibilities, that should be sufficient for the State to consider them as such. – Yours, etc,
PAUL FARRELLY,
Blackrock,
Cork.
Sir, – The Government has decided to hold referendums on International Women’s Day, March 8th, with a proposal that will effectively remove any mention of “woman” and “mothers” from the Constitution. I wonder if the Government decided to hold the referendums two days later, on Mother’s Day, March 10th, would the result be any different? –Yours, etc,
GERALDINE O’BRIEN,
Drogheda,
Co Louth.