Family structure - New law for new society

Six out of 10 people believe children are better off if their parents are husband and wife, while 53% of 1,000 people surveyed believe that marriage is better for society than people living together.

By comparison with earlier decades, those figures undoubtedly reflect an enormous change in mores in this country. They also probably reflect very different thinking on the part of younger people.

There are some 121,000 cohabiting couples in the country. This amounts to a quadrupling of the figure for 1996. At the same time, more couples are getting married. The figure for marriages actually went up by 34% since 1998.

As the Government is considering legislation to deal with issues involving cohabiting couples and same-sex couples, the politicians should consider carefully the necessary changes in the light of great changes that have been taking place in Irish society.

A third of children born each year are born outside marriage. This is a reflection of the changing times and attitudes. Legislators should keep those changes in mind during their deliberations on the necessary legislation.