Sir, – Frank Farrell (July 17th)gives us a lesson in how to count, which is very welcome.
However, he should be addressing his remarks to the Department of Finance and not the Department of Justice, given recent events.
This negativity towards civil marriage between people of the same sex overlooks the fact that people fall in love. Their sexuality cannot be changed. It’s the way people are born. It’s a fact of life.
Allowing same sex couples to have the same rights as everyone else and get on with their lives should be a priority and not this tedious endless debate about procreation, etc.
In 10 years’ time people will be asking what all this fuss is about. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – There appears to be a drive to legalise same-sex marriage without the democratic consultation of a constitutional referendum. Dr Conor O’Mahony (Opinion July 17th) suggests that the major political parties are on board for a legislative change. I wasn’t aware that they had sought a mandate to do so at the last general election. And why the eagerness to avoid a referendum? One might almost wonder that some worry the people will not give them the result they want.
However, I think it advisable that people have the chance to engage in debate. This is a highly emotive issue. It would be best to avoid the possibility that this change, should we make it, be tainted by the charge that it was done without meaningful consultation. – Is mise,
Sir, – Last week, the Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, gave his support to the cause of same–sex marriage, calling it the “civil rights issue of this generation”. Granted there is merit and justice in the argument for same-sex marriage, but other pressing civil rights come to mind.
Mr Gilmore is surely aware of the catastrophic levels of illiteracy within the Republic, of the thousands of young people falling out of school each year without the basic educational skills to participate in society.
As Tánaiste in the Government, Mr Gilmore must also be aware of the greatest iniquity of the present time: the levelling of private bank debt on the shoulders of the general public.
Surely these injustices betray the human dignity promised in any civil rights declaration? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Given that marriage was only invented by men so that they could keep tight control of their property and that, largely because of the otherwise general pointlessness of such an institution, divorce rates are rising rapidly (already roughly equal to marriage rate in the US) and more and more intelligent people are simply living together rather than allow governments even more control over their lives, I cannot imagine why gays are insisting on the right to marry.
Do they know something that heterosexuals don’t know? – Yours, etc,