Voters in the Republic of Ireland have overwhelmingly voted against amending the Irish Constitution to alter definitions of ‘family’ and ‘women’ .
A proposal to include families which are not based on marriage was defeated by a 67.7% ‘No’ vote. A second proposed change related to the role of women in the home was defeated by a 73.9% ‘No’ vote. They were the highest ever ‘No’ votes percentage in an Irish referendum.
The Irish Constitution says:
The state recognises the family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law. The state pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded, and to protect it against attack.
The referendum proposed to change it to:
The state recognises the family WHETHER FOUNDED ON MARRIAGE OR ON OTHER DURABLE RELATIONSHIPS as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law. The state pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage and to protect it against attack..
The Constitution also says:
In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.’
The second referendum sought to replace these provisions with:
The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to Society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision.
The Irish government put forwards the reforms to enshrine gender equality in the Constitution by removing what it labelled “very old-fashioned, very sexist language” drafted during a time of heavy Catholic influence, and “recognise the realities of modern family life.” It was confident both referenda would pass with an overwhelmingly ‘Yes’ vote.
All the mainstream political parties were in support with just two small parties opposing it. Prominent organisations like the National Council of Women, Family Carers Ireland and the National Information Service for Unmarried Parents backed it as did the mainstream media. Even recent polls had predicted a smooth passage for a ‘Yes-Yes’ vote.
But they all either misread the views of, or didn’t bother consulting with, the key stakeholders — the Irish people — who delivered the largest referendum defeat in Ireland’s history. Only one of 39 constituencies ― an affluent area near Dublin ― voted ‘Yes’ to the first question, and all 39 voted against the second question. Only 44% of the population voted.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it was clear both amendments had been “defeated comprehensively on a respectable turnout”. He said the Irish government accepted the result and will “respect it fully. As head of government and on behalf of the government, we accept responsibility for the result. It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote ‘Yes’ and we clearly failed to do so,” he conceded.
Ireland has previously passed ‘socially progressive’ referenda on divorce, same sex marriage and abortion. But political scientist Eoin O’Malley of Dublin City University described this latest effort as “a poorly executed referendum that nobody needed or wanted.”
