Voting down the referendums will “reaffirm” sexist language and fail to recognise family care in the Constitution, the Taoiseach has claimed.
Leo Varadkar said that if the public vote against the proposed wording to change the Constitution, it will be a “retrograde step”, adding that there is no guarantee future governments will run a similar referendum.
Two referendums will be held on March 8th proposing to change the Constitution.
The family amendment proposes extending the meaning of family beyond one defined by marriage and to include those based on “durable” relationships.
The care amendment proposes deleting references to a woman’s roles and duties in the home, and replacing it with a new article that acknowledges family carers.
The Fine Gael leader claimed that the proposed wording to recognise carers will put an “obligation” on the state to support such care.
“The referendum on care is about care. It’s about recognising the role and importance of family carers in our Constitution for the first time and putting an obligation on the state to strive to support that care,” he said.
“It’s also about deleting some very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women in the Constitution.
“That’s why I’m encouraging people to vote yes on that.
“That’s why organisations like Family Carers Ireland, for example, the National Women’s Council are all supporting a Yes vote.
“I appreciate that there are some people making the argument that if there’s a No vote, that future governments can come back with different wording at a different time.
“There’s no guarantee of that. There’s no guarantee that a future government will rerun the referendum, no guarantee that they’ll come up with wording that’s more acceptable to more people, no guarantee that that referendum would even pass.
“The only guarantee is that if there’s a no vote, the sexist language about women our constitution will be reaffirmed. The Irish people will have voted not to recognise the special position of family care in the Constitution and I think that would be a retrograde step.”
Mr Varadkar said the Government has been doing all it can to “dispel” some of the myths around the consequences of changing the Constitution.
Minister for Social Protection and Fine Gael’s director of elections for the referendums Heather Humphreys said there will be “a lot of disappointed people” if both questions are rejected.
“If the vote isn’t carried, what is that saying to the many thousands of single parents out there who currently are trying to rear their children,” the Cavan and Monaghan TD said.
“What’s that saying to the many, many thousands of grandparents who have custodian guardianship of their children, but they’re struggling to rear them.
“What’s that saying to the single parents and also to the cohabitating couples who are living together and who may have children.
“I think on Saturday evening, if this referendum is [not] passed, there’s going to be a lot of very disappointed people and we all know them.
“Every single one of us know somebody who is a single parent, who is a cohabitating couple, or who is a grandparent rearing a grandchild.
“I would say please, please come out and vote yes on Friday.
“For the second referendum, I’m also saying please vote yes. First time ever that care will be in our Constitution and it will also get rid of that outdated and archaic language that belongs to era that is well gone.”
