Irish voters overwhelmingly rejected their government’s attempts to change the definition of a family and strip protections for mothers in a pair of referendums on March 8.
Ireland voters just overwhelmingly rejected an elite left-wing effort to rewrite their constitution.
The amendment would have removed the claim that marriage is the basis of the family, as well as a reference to women's "duties in the home."
More than 67% of Ireland voted no. pic.twitter.com/QDpOSbjyZz
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) March 9, 2024
The increasingly left-wing government of Ireland proposed a new set of referendums recently, proposing changes in language to Article 41 of the Irish Constitution, in two sections referred to as The Family Amendment and The Care Amendment.
Ireland’s government sought to deny marriage as the foundation of the family, make the language of the amendments more “inclusive” and remove economic protections for mothers.
The Family Amendment, the first section set to be changed, discusses the importance of the family as the building block which society is built on, and which is built on the institution of marriage.
The first referendum Irish voters were able to vote on was a proposition by the irish government to consider “other durable relationships” equal to marriage as a foundation for families, diminishing the importance of marriage in society and paving the way for perversions of the traditional family such as polygamy.
The second section to be changed, The Care Amendment, recognizes the special importance and value that mothers’ work within the home brings to society, and states that it is the government’s duty to make sure that women will not be forced put work before caring for their homes and families. The amendment states:
“In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”
The referendum suggested completely deleting the amendment and replacing it with a much more vague and unenforceable standard:
“The State recognises that 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 change is an especially devious one, as it removes any government accountability. The original version gives a clear benchmark for whether the government is fulfilling its duties: whether mothers must neglect their own duties. The proposed change, in which the government should “strive to support such provision,” removes all accountability from the government to maintain an economy where women are able to care for their families.
The Irish people voted against both proposed changes, with some areas voting more than 80% against the referendums.
Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar was in support of both changes.
“As head of government and on behalf of the government, we accept responsibility for the result,” he said.
“It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote ‘Yes’ and we clearly failed to do so.”
