Madam, - I enjoyed the excellent article on fathers and sons by the clinical psychologist Marie Murray (Health Supplement, January 27th)
Feminists and liberals, aided by advances in modern reproductive technology, would have us believe that fathers are superfluous to requirements, and that children reared in one-parent families, where the reassuringly constant presence of the father has been replaced by a succession of "partners" are not disadvantaged in any way.
Marie Murray's observation that a good relationship between father and son is essential for the mental health and emotional development of children was confirmed by the recent remark by Chief Justice Ronan Keane that many of the youngsters responsible for the upsurge in juvenile crime in recent years come from one-parent families.
I look forward to reading more such articles, based on sound common sense and clinical experience, rather than those written from a politically correct perspective, based on spurious studies and peddling false propaganda about fathers and their role in the family. - Yours, etc.,
JOE PATTON, Hillcrest Walk, Lucan, Co Dublin.