Poll finding: Mother-and-father arrangement best to raise children

A significant majority of people believe that the traditional mother-and-father combination is the best way to bring up children in Ireland, according to the latest Irish Times /Ipsos MRBI poll.

Voters were asked to say how a number of parental combinations were capable of fully meeting a child’s needs.

Among respondents 67 per cent said a father and mother was extremely capable of meeting a child’s needs with a further 28 per cent saying they were very capable. Just 3 per cent opted for fairly capable and 1 per cent for not at all capable.

Not capable
A family with a mother only came next in the ranking with 27 per cent saying a mother was very capable of raising a child, 44 per cent of people opting for very capable, 24 per cent for fairly capable, 3 per cent for not very capable and 1 per cent for not at all capable.

A mother-and-mother combination was next with 27 per cent opting for very capable, 33 per cent for very capable, 23 per cent fairly capable, 11 per cent not very capable and 6 per cent not at all capable.

A father only managed a 21 per cent extremely-capable rating, 40 per cent very capable, 31 per cent fairly capable, 6 per cent not very capable and 2 per cent not at all capable.

Asked about a father-father combination 23 per cent said they would be extremely capable, 27 per cent very capable, 26 per cent fairly capable, 15 per cent not very capable and 8 per cent not at all capable.

There was a wide variation in attitudes depending on age, with older people much less inclined to say that the options other than a father and mother were extremely, or very capable, of meeting a child’s needs.