A changing society - New Ireland needs a new set of rules

THE ordinary people of Ireland are, it seems, changing.

Some of us may still have our dinner in the middle of the day but if those of us who do so are in our twenties, and share it with a partner, we are twice as likely to be cohabiting as we are to be married.

The depth of change this represents should not be underestimated. Not so long ago, certainly in the working life of men summoned to Rome to discuss “the Irish unpleasantness” with the Pope, this statistic, this defiance of the mores society once held dear, would have been unimaginable. Whether that was because we really believed the arrangement inappropriate or whether we were browbeaten by an authoritarian church — and very many of the laity — is ultimately a question for historians and psychologists. Figures published yesterday more than hint at an answer however.