Dear Editor, It is good that despite the short time agreed by our Government and major political parties for debating and understanding the important marriage referendum, that the debate is largely free of bitterness and ill-tempered rhetoric. That being the case, the initial lack of clarity by the referendum commission in it’s opening statement, the…

Dear Editor, I disagree with David Quinn’s contention in your April 9 edition that the stakes in the coming marriage referendum could hardly be higher. I do not believe that it marks a “militant” development in social liberalism if we are expected to move beyond “mere tolerance” of one another’s lifestyle choices. I, as a…

Dear Editor, I believe the marriage referendum is misleading in title and wording. I have the greatest respect for all human beings, regardless of class, creed, clan, orientation or position in life. This does not mean, however, they are all equal in personality, colour, orientation or status in position held. The President of Ireland has…

Dear Editor, I very much appreciated Mary Kenny’s short discussion of the religious (and in many respects specifically Catholic) dimensions to the 1916 Easter Rising (IC 09/04/2015), and I certainly think she is ‘on the money’ when she states that these dimensions need to be part of the informed public discussion of the significance of…

Dear Editor, It beggars belief that schools used as polling stations are having to foot the bill if a voter falls or injures themselves on election days. So many Catholic schools are already feeling the pinch after continuous Government cuts and now I read (IC 09/04/2015) the ones that are being used as polling stations…

Dear Editor, The ideal of the Christian family is embedded in the Irish Constitution and provides a template or framework for the family. Not all families are ideal, not all families are Christian, but Irish laws within the Constitution are capable of accommodating people of different belief systems. The forthcoming referendum on same-sex marriage will…

Dear Editor, Shortly Irish voters will be asked by our Government to legalise same-sex marriage, with men marrying men, women marrying women and with children being adopted/surrogated into same-sex unions, as a new Irish norm. Should this same-sex referendum pass, will schools and teachers be forced to teach children that same-sex marriage is not just…

Dear Editor, There is no doubt that had it not been for the marriage referendum, we would not have had so many public discussions about how Ireland treats gay people, or the nature of civil marriage. Whatever the result of the marriage referendum, it has been a healthy exercise for people who are gay, and…

Dear Editor, I was astounded to read the amount of evidence suggesting that Bishop Juan Barros not only knew about sexual abuse by Chile’s most notorious clerical sex abuser, but actually watched him abuse teenagers (IC 09/04/2015 ‘Vatican stands by controversial bishop’). When I initially heard of the protests against his appointment as Bishop of…

Dear Editor, I agree totally with Terry Healy (IC Letters 26/03/2015) about the lack of leadership from the bishops. When Bishop Kevin Doran tried to explain the teachings of the Church, he was made to apologise – by whom I wonder? Yours etc., Helen Gately, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.