Sex too important to be left to the liberals

TWICE recently in the Irish Examiner (June 26 and July 2), Catherine Heaney, chief executive of the IFPA, extolled the virtues of condoms and liberal sex education to prevent crisis pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections in Ireland, “rather than change behaviour and attitudes among young people”.

Fr Eamonn McCarthy (Irish Examiner letters, July 4) effectively refuted the effectiveness of the former. Regarding the latter, authoritative commentators are less sanguine about unrestrained sexual activity in Irish society.

Dr Garrett FitzGerald once remarked that "while many former taboos had been thrown overboard (in Ireland) in recent decades with much self-congratulation in liberal circles about the end of repression sex is much too complex and emotive an issue to be freed from all restraints".