It’s fair to say that Fintan O’Toole doesn’t like the section on the Irish Constitution that deals with the family, that is to say, Article 41. In his column in Tuesday’s Irish Times he associates it with de Valera’s Ireland and finds the article to be more or less incomprehensible.

He has a particular objection to the article’s description of the family as “the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society”. He thinks this is “extraordinarily vague”.

Let’s clear things up for him. What does “natural” mean here? It means the family that arises in the natural course of things when a man meets a woman and they have children together.

Such a family is clearly fundamental and primary to society because if men and women do not have children together, then we won’t have a society at all.

The family is founded on marriage because we want men and women who have children together to commit to one another and to their children and marriage has been shown in every time and place to be the institution best equipped to do this.

This is the basic rationale for Article 41. It really isn’t that complicated.

In fact, it is so uncomplicated that thinking of a very similar kind is found in no less a place than the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 16 of the Declaration reads:

•  (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
• (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
• (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

At this very least this shows that Article 41 is by no means a uniquely Irish or Catholic creation. Very far from it. But I daresay Fintan equally dislikes Article 16 just quoted above. That would be the logic of it anyway.