Ireland is set to reject proposed changes to the constitution’s references to family and women, delivering a scathing rebuke to the government, which has urged voters not to take a “step back”.
Early tallies at counting centers on Saturday showed a significant majority voted against the double referendum to replace the “domestic women” clause.
“At this stage, it is clear that the referendum on the Family Amendment Bill and the Care Amendment Bill have been rejected.They were rejected overall with an excellent turnout,” Governor Leo Varadkar said as counting continued. he said.
The government will accept the results, he said. “It was our responsibility to persuade the majority of the public to vote ‘yes’, and we clearly failed to do so.”
The refusal represented a defeat not only for the government, but also for opposition parties and advocacy groups that had united to support the “yes, yes” vote.
Critics say it contrasts with the shocking 2015 same-sex marriage referendum and 2018 abortion referendum, which emphasized Ireland’s secular and liberal transformation, a lackluster mess that alienated progressive allies. He said he has launched a campaign to invite
The government had billed Friday’s vote, which coincided with International Women’s Day, as an opportunity to enshrine inclusiveness and equality in the 1937 constitution.
Changes to Article 41 were proposed in the referendum. The Family Amendment proposed expanding the definition of family from relationships based on marriage to “permanent relationships” such as couples living together and their children. The Care Amendment proposed replacing references to “mother’s duties in the home” with a clause recognizing family care.
On the eve of the vote, Mr Varadkar said not voting would be a “step backwards”, sending the wrong message to unmarried couples and upholding a “very outdated language” about women.
Shortly after the ballot boxes were opened, it was clear that the appeal had failed as votes did not add up in Dublin or across the country.
Few argued that this was a conservative backlash. Some feminists and other progressive groups urged people not to vote for the proposal, calling it vague or bland.
The No for Lawyers group criticized the proposal’s language and lack of legislative scrutiny and warned of unintended consequences. “I trust individual voters. They considered what was being put in front of them and they said no,” said Michael, a member of the group and former justice minister. Senator McDowell said. “This is a clear repudiation of what I consider to be an ill-advised constitutional social experiment.”
Some feared that expanding the definition of family would affect tax and citizenship provisions. Some said extending the burden of care from women to the entire family ignores the state’s responsibility.
The defeat embarrassed the government and led to calls for prominent campaigners, including children’s minister Roderick O’Gorman, to resign. However, the result is not expected to destabilize the ruling coalition of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens.
Green Party leader and transport minister Eamon Ryan said there were no plans to hold another referendum before the next election. “The next administration will have to revisit this and look at the campaign and what the arguments were that deserved a rejection in both cases.”
Opposition parties also faced accusations that they had misjudged the county’s mood. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou MacDonald said her party was “very” sympathetic to national sentiment and blamed the government for the defeat. She said: “They didn’t cooperate and we couldn’t persuade them.”
Labor Party leader Ivana Basic said the government had run a lackluster election campaign, ignoring alternative wording proposed by parliament’s gender equality committee.
