We should be grateful to The Irish Times for setting out in its editorial today such a comprehensively adult-centred view of marriage. The newspaper is entirely happy to completely separate the issue of children from the issue of marriage and never thinks to ask whether this is actually a good thing or not. It’s not, of course.

For example, speaking of the fundamentally flawed Children and Family Relationships Bill The Irish Times says: “It demonstrates its recognition that in modern western society marriage and the formation of families with children are no longer the same thing.”

But the leader writer doesn’t pause to consider whether this is actually in the interests of children. It’s not. Study after study has shown the children are most likely to flourish when raised by their two married, biological parents.

A writer who was more concerned about the interests of children than of adults would stop for a moment to ask himself whether the proper response to the fact that so many children are being raised outside marriage might be to do a better job at promoting marriage and encouraging parents to marry.

But rather than go down this route, the leader writer chooses to double down and declare, in effect, that marriage has nothing to do with children at all and everything to do with adults.

As is usual with people who favour same-sex marriage, the writer seems to think that the fact that not all married couples have children is some kind of slam dunk argument against the basic child-centeredness of the institution of marriage. It’s not.

We encourage all men and women who form sexual unions to marry one another because it is only the sexual unions of men and women that can give rise to children and when an older man marries an older woman they are setting an example for all men and women who wish to form a sexual unions.

Indeed, the fact that so many men and women now form sexual unions without marrying has been extremely bad for children because everywhere marriage has declined the number of children being raised without a father on hand has gone up. Marriage is the single best way of connecting fathers to their children. Nothing else comes close.

But again, none of this concerns leader writer of The Irish Times. Evidence doesn’t come into it. The interests of children don’t come into it. It is obvious that the writer doesn’t care whether children are raised by their married biological parents or not.

Indeed, if The Irish Times has its way, and marriage is redefined in a completely adult-centred way, then the paper really ought to consider the following questions.

Doesn’t it bother the newspaper that if marriage is redefined as an adult-centred rather than a child-centred institution then we won’t have any child-centred social institution at all?

And If marriage is adult-centred and has nothing to do with children, who are the original reason for giving it special status, why should we give it continue to give it special status and privileges at all?

Today’s leader was ill-considered to put it mildly but at least it has the merit of making it perfectly clear that in the coming referendum campaign an adult-centred  view of marriage and the family will be up against a child-centred view of marriage and the family. We are very happy to have a debate on these terms.