Mothers and fathers who are committed to each other provide the best environment in which to raise children, one of the country’s leading clinical psychologists has said.

Speaking on RTE Radio’s Marion Finucane show on Saturday, Marie Murray said that the ideal circumstance for raising children was “a mother and father, committed to each other, whether that’s through marriage or other forms, but it is a very specific committment, loving their children working together in good relationship”. 

“It’s the ideal and it has been part of a very long tradition,” she added. 

David Quinn, director of the Iona Institute, also appeared on the programme.

Ms Murray, head of counselling at UCD, also said that studies show that children were more likely to suffer abuse where they were not living with both biological parents.

She said that it was “much safer for a child to live with both the biological parents. We have the evidence for that”.

Senator Jillian Van Turnhout, the head of the Children’s Rights Alliance, said that she agreed “absolutely with what Marie is saying and we have the evidence of that”.

Ms Murray said that it was very important that children who grew up in single parent families weren’t stereotyped and we must “very careful that we don’t vilify or undermine any number of decent families forms that work very well”.

However, she said that children needed both a mother and a father “for different reasons”. 

“The only person who can teach a boy to be a man is another man. So it is ideal if there’s a good role model there, somebody with values, somebody who cares about you, teaching you how to, how to be a man, how to be in relationship, how to respect women, how to talk to your mother, how to treat women, all of that,” Ms Murray said.

She added: “All of the research will show that if children have a warm, supportive, involved and loving father. That helps them intellectually, it helps them academically, it helps them emotionally, it helps their self concept, it helps their sense of stability, it helps their conduct, their behaviour, and substance abuse. 

“So there’s masses of research to show the positive benefits of a father’s presence, and the negative aspects of a father’s absence.”

Asked whether marriage itself mattered by guest host Claire Byrne, Ms Murray said: “It matters to the extent that what you are talking about is commitment. I think commitment is extremely important. 

“Commitment is about taking responsibility, paying for the young person, spending time with them, caring about them, finding out where they are, who they’re with, all of the things that parents do.”

Ms Murray said that people had become scared to say that commitment was important because it wasn’t politically correct.

She said: “We are afraid to say, for example, that children are really hurt when their parents separate, but they are really hurt and I have met these children in 35 years practicing, they hate it, they abhor it..

“I mean nobody can argue with that. We are afraid to say that it is really good for children to find themselves in a family where the parents have made a committment, whether that’s at an alter or another way, that’s a moral issue it’s not a psychological issue.”