Same sex marriages - Be honest on how we live our lives

It may be different in other countries but in Ireland we seem to have, chameleon-like, mastered a way of living that vehemently asserts one position but observes a completely different set of rules or realities.

For decades a good number of us imagined, and were warned by iron-in-the-velvet professors of theology, that a condom was a one-way ticket to hell. Even if we, though not all of us, accepted that orthodoxy, most of us were energetically determined to avail of the opportunities to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh the rubber sheath offered. Recognising this character trait, some might call it hypocrisy, Charles Haughey contrived an Irish solution to an Irish problem by making some contraceptives accessible only if they were prescribed — for a married couple only — by a doctor. At this remove, that shabby, shameful dodge can be seen for the tragic farce it was, but at the time it was regarded as a moral solution to an immoral practice.

Today we adopt much the same position on abortion. Despite the deep concerns of a great number of people, abortion is a fact of Irish life. The only issue is the price of a plane ticket as as many as 12 women a day travelled from the Republic to Britain for abortions in 2010. Figures released by the UK Department of Health some time ago show a total of 4,402 women providing Irish addresses had terminations in England or Wales. These figures obviously do not include those who travelled to continental Europe so the real figure is higher. Yet despite this reality, we assert that Ireland is abortion free and bask in the glow of righteousness we imagine that faux purity confers.