Madam, – In a recent survey on Irish attitudes to marriage, the religious lobby group the Iona Institute found that a slim majority of Irish people feel that “in general marriage is better for society than couples living together” (The Irish Times, January 11th). This does indeed seem to show that Irish people still support “the current practice of favouring marriage in the law”, as Iona director David Quinn put it.
Coupled with last year’s data from MarriagEquality showing 58 per cent public support for civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples (The Irish Times, April 1st), the findings of the Iona survey make it clearer than ever that the Government should abandon its misconceived and inferior “civil partnership” scheme.
Instead, Mr Cowen should heed the public’s support for marriage by taking the fair, just and logical step of opening the protections of civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples and their children. – Yours, etc,