Madam, - With recent calls for Ireland to follow international trends and adopt homosexual marriage, a recent international development may need some consideration.
The French government last year appointed a commission at the request of the president of the national assembly. It concluded that homosexual marriage, as well as homosexual adoption and medically assisted procreation, should not be permitted by law.
In its efforts to hear all views on the subject, the French commission, over the course of a year, organised 14 round tables and listened to people representing different parts of French society. Its members also travelled to Spain, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada to assess reforms that have been undertaken in other countries.
Its report, released in January, said the decisive factor in its conclusions was the commission's decision to act "to affirm and protect children's rights and the primacy of those rights over adults' aspirations." - Yours, etc,
GOBNAIT Ó GRÁDAIGH, Monkstown, Co Dublin.