Sir, - Cocooned in his defensive bunker, Kieran McGrath ("Adoption not a cure for childless couples", Opinion, November 11th) should ask himself a simple question: If adoption assessment practices are so good, why has the Minister, Frank Fahy, instituted an in-depth investigation by a firm of consultants?
Mr McGrath should also listen to recordings of the RTE Liveline programme for November 4th and 5th as a testimony to the intrusive and prurient nature of the assessment process. Meanwhile, out in the real world, I will continue to articulate the view that the needs of would-be adoptive parents and children are not mutually exclusive, as suggested by Mr McGrath. I will also continue to voice my concern for the welfare of all children, born and unborn. - Yours, etc., Patricia Casey,
Professor of Psychiatry,
Mater Hospital/UCD,
Dublin.