It also highlights how our "leaders" and legislators are lagging far behind public sentiment in terms of social legislation. A very clear majority of people . . . some 64% . . . support the right of same-sex couples to equal financial and legal rights as heterosexual married couples.

Their opinions could have been influenced by the very strong arguments recently made in the High Court by lesbian couple Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan who want their Canadian marriage to be recognised here.

The outcome of that case is being eagerly awaited by gay couples and their families, many of whom are disappointed that the government has not legislated for gay partnership in the same way as in Britain and the North.

However, the poll is not all good news for gay people: it also reveals an underlying cohort of prejudice against full acceptance of gay couples' rights to a family. When asked whether gay couples should be allowed to legally adopt children, the Sunday Tribune Millward Brown IMS poll reveals us as less positive.

Half those surveyed do not believe gay couples should be allowed to adopt, while 37% believe they should . . . and a significant 13% don't know The irony is that the law currently prohibits gay people from marrying . . . but allows them to both foster and adopt children. But our failure to legislate for gay marriage leaves both children and long-term partners vulnerable in the event of death or separation.

The checks carried out on couples before adoption or fostering are rigorous and include a complete emotional and psychological examination of the motivation of the foster or adoptive parent.

As the Kinsey-esque survey of Irish modern sexual mores published this week revealed, it's rather more rigorous than the all too commonplace way a lot of people become parents . . . drunken coitus without using contraception.