The Irish people have rejected proposed legislative changes in two constitutional referendums that would broaden the definition of the family and the role of women in the family. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who had advocated both legislative changes, acknowledged Irish media his loss. The turnout was 44.6 percent and on Saturday evening about two-thirds had voted against the law changes. Varadkar said his government accepts the outcome.
The referenda took place on Friday, on International Women’s Day. One of the proposed changes concerned the role of women within the family. The concept of “woman at the hearth” would no longer apply, meaning that a woman’s most important task is housework and taking care of the family. According to the rejected article of law, housekeeping and care could also be carried out “by family members”. The definition of the family could no longer be held together only “by marriage” but also by “a lasting relationship.” According to Varadkar, that would be less “old-fashioned”.
The Irish Constitution dates from 1937 and the Catholic Church had a much greater influence in the country then than it does today. The Irish government hoped that the social changes would win over the population to this modernization of the constitution, as happened previously with the inclusion of same-sex marriage in 2015 and the removal of the ban on abortion in 2018. That turned out to be a miscalculation. Opponents argued that changing the definition of a family could have a major impact on inheritance or guardianship and many Irish people appeared to find the changes unclear. Various feminist and progressive groups therefore also called for voting against the law changes.
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Most of the political spectrum was in favor. In addition to Varadkar’s liberal-conservative Fine Gael, many opposition parties had also embraced the proposed changes. One of the parties that did call for ‘no’ votes was the breakaway party Aontú from Sinn Féin. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said the legal changes were worded so vaguely that they would lead to legal conflicts and that most people “don’t know what the meaning of a long-term relationship is.” Sinn Féin was also against it. The leader of the Catholic party, Mary Lou McDonald, concluded that her party had done a “very good job” in gauging public sentiment.
So everything remains the same. Prime Minister Varadkar said he regretted that his government had failed to convince the population and said he would evaluate the campaign. “Although the adage is that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, I think when you lose by such a margin there are many people who have misunderstood this. I am certainly one of them,” the Prime Minister said.