Referendum

The Irish people go to the polls, on International Women’s Day, for the referendum organized by the country’s government with the object of revising two outdated amendments to the Constitution concerning the family and the role of women as wife and mother.

Specifically, the change to the first amendment aims to expand the definition of family so that it now includes “relationships of duration” entered into outside of marriage and to offer protection to those couples or families (single parents, etc.)

The second amendment removes an outdated reference to the role of women in the home, according to which women have a duty to care for the other persons under their roof. A new, broader wording assigns to all members of a family the responsibility to care for one another. It is recalled that the Constitution of Ireland has been in force since 1937, at a time when the Catholic Church had an important role in the political affairs of the country which, just fifteen years before, in 1922, had won its independence from the United Kingdom.

“New step forward for equality”

The referendum, which is said to be taking place on March 8, International Women’s Day, aims to “take a new step forward for equality”, says Orla O’Connor, director of the National Council of Women Ireland. For her part, Yvonne Galligan, a professor at the Dublin University of Technology, says that the new wording for the expansion of the concept of family is a “logical progress”.

A country with a strong Catholic tradition and a population of five million, Ireland has voted in recent years in similar referenda in favor of relaxing abortion laws and same-sex marriage.

As for the country’s political parties, the main ones are in favor of the changes and until recently opinion polls indicated that their approval would be easy, despite the low turnout that is likely to be recorded.

But the vague wording of the amendments has drawn increasing criticism in recent days, with centre-right Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who initiated the referendum, admitting that a “Yes” victory on the two changes is not guaranteed.

The arguments in favor of reforming the articles

Regarding the reasons for the referendum, Prime Minister Varadkar said that there are about 1 million people living in the country in families that are not based on the institution of marriage, such as those with parents who live together and are not married, those with one parent and with grandparents who have assumed custody of children.

Mr Varadkar also added that a change to the constitution was needed “because it places an obligation on the state to try to support family care provided by everyone, not just married parents”. “All families are equal,” he added, describing the spirit of the new provision.

The opposition of the Catholic Church

For its part, the Catholic Church supports no, as do several conservative bodies in the country, who consider that there is no reason for such a constitutional change to occur. Their argument is that now everyone respects women and that they have equal rights with men on a practical level, so there is no reason to reform the country’s Constitution.

Apart from the Catholic Church, however, there are also criticisms from the legal world of Ireland, as there are not a few who argue that the term “durable relationship” introduced in the new family amendment is too vague and could lead to in misinterpretations.

Legal experts have warned that failure to spell out this new term more clearly in the Constitution could have implications for future family court cases, inheritance disputes, tax law and immigration cases. Among them is Senator Michael McDowell, a lawyer and law lecturer who has served as deputy prime minister, justice minister and attorney general.