Leo’s U-turn on child’s right to a mum and dad

Just four years ago, Health Minister Leo Varadkar told the Dáil: “Every child has a right to a mother and a father and as much as possible, the State should vindicate that right. That is a much more important right than that of two men or two women having a family”.

That was a clear, profound statement that left no ambiguity.

Fast-forward to last Sunday morning and his Confiteor to Miriam O’ Callaghan and the subsequent chorus of chirps and tweets from the usual quarters.

Surely, the minister must realise that his determination to push through this referendum has serious, negative implications for children?

The debate is about the value we attach to motherhood and to fatherhood, and the preferential treatment of the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, as opposed to the artificial concept of same-sex marriage.

It seems to me that Varadkar’s notion of equality cannot be achieved without the loss to innocent children of either a mother or father.

Politically, Varadkar seems to be defined by contradiction, uncertainty and of course, that old ‘horseshoe in the pocket’, the u-turn.

M O Riada

Kielduff

Tralee

Co Kerry