Sir, – The outcry about the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre advert with the focus on the grandparents surely misses the point.
Children have a right to express an opinion, be listened to and respected.
It’s not about how much the grandparents love their grandchild but how much they respect their wishes in that moment.
The underlying implication of the negative response to the video is that adults’ rights triumph over children’s rights every time. – Yours, etc,
RM Block
MÁIRE NÍ CHÉITINN,
Kilmacthomas,
Co Waterford.
Sir, – The issue of consent has prompted some interesting correspondence arising from the video of the grandparents’ unwanted hug.
The Irish language has two plain and unambiguous words to address the matters of consent and will: “cead” and “toil”. “An bhfuil cead agam, le do thoil?” meaning “Have I consent by your will?”
One person seeks “cead” from another in the hope that it may be granted by their “toil”. You can’t really have one without the other. They are like two sides of the same coin. Asking for or granting consent is an expression of one’s will.
[ Children are entitled to their own boundaries, which deserve respectOpens in new window ]
There is a powerful idiom in Irish that defines the mutuality of the marriage contract: “toil na beirte”, meaning “the will of the couple”. The contract is a reciprocal agreement. That lasts as long as it lasts. – Yours, etc,
PÁDRAIC HARVEY,
An Cheathrú Rua,
Co na Gaillimhe.
