Madam, - In his column of December 19th Quentin Fottrell maintains that gays and lesbians account for "far more than 10 per cent of the population". This is completely inaccurate and highly misleading.
According to The Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships, commissioned by the Department of Health and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and conducted by the ESRI, the true rate of homosexuality is 2 per cent among men and 1 per cent among women. To be more precise, these figures account for the number of people who define themselves as "mostly" or "only" homosexual. As the study points out, these figures are in line with international studies.
The figures quoted above, which amount to 1.5 per cent of the total population, are a fraction of Fottrell's estimate, which comes from a famous study by Alfred Kinsey in 1948, Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male. The figure has been debunked numerous times since by far more scientific studies. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN,
Buncrana,
Co Donegal