Sir, - May I publicly thank Prof Patricia Casey, professor of psychiatry at the Mater/UCD, for her article on childcare (The Irish Times, January 14th)? Prof Casey recognised the primacy of the parents as the primary educators and carers of their children and argued that, instead of the State becoming a surrogate parent by providing State-sponsored childcare (as lobbied for by the National Women's Council), it should support parents in their childcare choices in a manner that is fair and just and caters for what parents instinctively know - "that multiple carers are not good for children".
Prof Casey touched on the reality that many people see marriage - and as a consequence parenting - as a "partnership of give and take" where the economic interdependence of the persons involved is lived in practice, and where the focus is not on the notion of economic independence so loudly trumpeted by the National Women's Council. Isn't it the case that the extraordinary dignity of the human person and the mysterious dynamism of human love continue to challenge the hard-headed calculations of human reasoning? Prof Casey, thank you for your thoughtful, forthright and sensible contribution on this topic which speaks for the needs and desires of thousands of parents. - Yours, etc., Brenda McGann,
Monkstown, Co Dublin.