C of I `Gazette' `astonished' partner travels with Ahern

The Church of Ireland Gazette has said it is "astonishing" that Ms Celia Larkin should accompany the Taoiseach at home and abroad as he goes about State business. "Mr Ahern is a married man and he is not married to Miss Larkin," it says.

An editorial in the current issue says Ireland is throwing off the constraints of its religious past and suggests "the public life of our Taoiseach is a good example of this". It considers it "remarkable that the leader of the Government should feel no need to make apology for this situation". The article continues: "It is even more remarkable that the Roman Catholic Church, until recently the staunch defender of public morality in this country, has been so silent in this instance. Can one imagine that Archbishop John Charles McQuaid would have been so reticent? Of course the church is in a delicate position at a time when fresh scandals involving Christian Brothers or priests are almost a daily feature of the newspapers."

The Taoiseach's "own delicate position is no doubt in part a result of the very clear teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that divorce is not permitted. But there are other, more important commandments," it says.

The editorial continues: "We may feel a certain sympathy or even pity for Mr Ahern as an individual. But he is not just an individual. He is the leader of the Government. He is a role model. He represents our nation abroad."

Ireland is changing fast, it says, and concludes: "It would be a great pity if, in embracing the new, we were to lose some of the values of decency and responsibility which have served us so well in the past."

The Gazette is an independent newspaper published for the past 142 years by members of the Church of Ireland. Edited from Belfast by Canon Cecil Cooper, it receives £3,000 a year from church funds. It is run by a limited company set up by the Church's Standing Committee and has a board of 12 people, nine of whom are lay. Two journalists, Mr Patrick Comerford of The Irish Times and Mr Douglas Sloan, retired, are current members. The chairman is the Rev Norman Lynas, Dean of Ossory. Other members include the Rev Robert Whiteside, a teacher; businessman Mr David Pyle; Mr Godfrey Quayle, an honorary lay canon of Armagh Cathedral; Archdeacon Ray Hoey, rector of Camlough; Ms Valerie Jones, press officer, Dublin Archdiocese.