Eoin Ryan, STAND News Politics Editor, explains the March 8th Referendum, including information on what parts of the Constitution are being voted on and what the stances of major parties are.
March 8th Referendum: What you need to know
March 8th Referendum: What you need to know
Image: CatEyePerspective, Getty Images Pro
EDIT, 04/03: The Socialist Party has changed their stance from a ‘Yes-Yes’ vote to a ‘Yes-No’ vote on the recommendations of disabled activists and organisations.
Irish citizens will vote in two referendums that will take place on March 8th concerning the implementation of a wider concept of family and women’s role in society.
The family referendum regards an addition and removal of two different parts of the amendment. The state will recognise that the family is “ founded on marriage or on other durable relationships” and will delete a section stating marriage is the institution “on which the family is founded.”
The care referendum regards the removal and replacement of Article 41.2 which concerns the role of women in the home. It currently recognises the support women give “by her life within the home” and they will “not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”
A ‘Yes’ vote will change this and insert an Article 42B which will recognise “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.”
This comes after recommendations by the Citizens’ Assembly in 2021 and a special joint Oireachtas committee in 2022. They included the recommendation to delete an existing part of the Constitution and insert new text providing recognition for care provided by family members to each other and the use of language that was not gender-specific and make the government obliged to “take reasonable measures to support care within the home and wider community”.
All political parties excluding Aontú support a ‘Yes-Yes’ vote, but many voice that the proposed legislation does not go far enough. Labour leader Ivana Bacik said she would continue to push for better support for carers and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald called it “an opportunity missed”.
The National Women’s Council, the leading national representative organisation for women and women’s groups in Ireland, is one of many organisations advocating for a ‘Yes-Yes’ vote on the next referendum.
“These votes are our opportunity to shape a fairer, more equal Ireland where all families and children are valued equally,” Care Officer at the National Women’s Council Eilish Balfe said.
“An Ireland where the important contribution of care by both men and women is recognised. It’s our chance to send a strong message to the government that we want to see supports for families and for care.”
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said that “[d]espite considerable disappointment with how the Government has handled the upcoming proposals, Sinn Féin has decided to support a ‘Yes’.”
The only political party to support a ‘No-No’ vote is Aontú with its leader TD Peadar Tóibín saying the language is “unclear and confused and seriously questions the government’s competency. No one is sure what a ‘durable relationship’ is.”
The Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) Organisation is also calling for a ‘Yes-No’ vote and are only backing the Family amendment. They said “The proposed Article 42B endorses a status quo where women undertake the bulk of unpaid care work and places no obligation whatsoever on the State to redress this gender imbalance—- rendering it an implicitly sexist amendment.”
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