Sir, – Senator David Norris has said that gay cousins should be allowed to marry each other (Seanad Report, October 20th).
However, the key demand of the Yes campaign in the recent referendum was for identical treatment for same-sex couples in marriage.
The No campaign’s proposal for a separate but equal legal arrangement was vehemently rejected.
Now Mr Norris is arguing for special arrangements for same-sex marriage after all, so what was the problem with a separate but equal arrangement in the Constitution? – Yours, etc,
DONAL McGRATH,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
A chara, – Senator David Norris can relax. You report that he said: “It would not take a feather out of me if two cousins married each other. What is the problem with that?’’ He said that he suspected that he would be pilloried by “the grotesque Irish media’’ for making the suggestion. He need have no such fear. He seems unaware that there is no legal restriction in Irish law on the marriage of first cousins, gay or non-gay, same-sex or different sex.
Mr Norris said the regulations covering cousins marrying were introduced to protect the genetic pool, but that this would remain relatively untroubled by same-sex marriage. (Why “relatively”?) The same is true of marriage of any two of the same sex, including brothers or sisters, or parent and child, although these are within the prohibited degrees of relationship, for no apparent reason. Is this a violation of a human right? – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Dublin 16.