Wording of referendums needs to be “urgently clarified”

The government needs to publish the wording on the two referendums on family, care and gender equality as a “matter of urgency,” according to National Women’s Council Director Orla O’Connor.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik joined the calls for the wording to be published, saying it was “imperative” for the wording to be published as soon as possible, remarking she could not understand why it was taking so long given there had been a Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality and Oireachtas Committee hearings on the issue.

Bacik said “many women, families and carers continue to be impacted by the absence of recognition within the Constitution for care and for an inclusive definition of family. It is now time for Government to provide clarity on wording and timeline for this necessary vote.”

O’Connor renewed her demand for a referendum to remove the constitutional provision Article 41.2, regarding “women’s duties in the home”, saying it “never led to any positive change” and stated it was used to “anchor discriminatory policies like the marriage bar” in Irish society.

Ethel Buckley, the deputy general secretary of SIPTU, said the trade union oppose the inclusion of Article 41.2 saying it “went against the principles of equality.”

She says SIPTU is the trade union of care workers today, and it wants the Article repealed.

An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that there would be two referendums, and says he will meet with the chief executive of the Electoral Commission in the coming weeks about conducting the campaign.

The much-mooted set of referendums was agreed in the Programme for Government in 2020, with the commitment to hold them in the lifetime of this Government.

The proposed November date for the series of referendums is yet to be set.

O’Connor told RTÉ that the referendum “is our chance to remove the limits on women from our constitution and instead recognise the value of care in all of its forms – in the home and in the wider community.”

“It is our chance to recognise and protect all families equally, including but not limited to the marital family.”