Opinion piece by Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys TD

MARCH 8th represents an opportunity for us to vote for a Caring and Changing Ireland

A Society in which every family counts and;

A Constitution that reflects the Ireland of the present, not the past.

Referendum on the Family

Currently within the constitution we only define a family as a married couple.

We are asking the public to amend the constitution to recognise that families are not just based on marriage.

Families come in many different forms today whether it is;

• Lone parents
• Couples who are not married
• Grandparents who have guardianship of their grandchildren

This referendum is about taking account of the fact that society has changed and the definition of a family needs to be updated.

It’s about supporting the families that all of us know – and who we all see and recognise as families – but currently our constitution does not.

Nobody will lose anything from the changes we are recommending but many people will gain new rights and new recognition.

Families that are not based on marriage like those led by a grandparent or lone parent will gain constitutional recognition for the first time.

There are about a million people in the country in a family that is not a marital family.

We all know them.

They’re our neighbours and our friends.

These are the people we are talking about when we talk about durable relations and they deserve to be recognised in our constitution.

A Yes vote recognises that every family is different and every family counts.

It is important to remind ourselves that Marriage will continue to have a special status in our constitution, that will not change and Voting Yes will not impact on succession rights that are laid down in legislation through the Succession Act.

Referendum on Care

On the 8th March, we are also asking people to remove archaic language from our constitution which refers to ‘women in the home’ and ‘mothers neglecting their duties in the home’

We want to replace this with a new article in the constitution recognising the value of care and support which family members give to one another, which is a foundation for solidarity and cohesion within our society.

As a woman I am glad to have the opportunity to finally remove this outdated language from our constitution.

It has not served us well and provided many opportunities for women to be discriminated against.

In the past, the marriage bar meant women had to leave work when they got married.

I worked in the financial sector where often women were not considered for promotion because many men felt they should be at home.

Women were paid less than men for doing the same job.

The present wording in our constitution supported these attitudes – I say Good Riddance to it.

The care amendment will put a new article in the constitution to reflect the modern world where care is provided by women and men.

Crucially it also puts a positive obligation on the State to ‘strive to support care in the home’.

Over the last three and half years as Minister for Social Protection I have worked with organisations like Family Carers Ireland to deliver some really important reforms that have supported family Carers such as:

• Providing a pension to long term carers from January of this year;
• Increasing carer’s payments by €29 per week over the last 3 Budgets;
• No changes had been made to the carers allowance means test since 2007. I have increased it twice in the last 3 years so that more carers can qualify for the payment.

These measures were all introduced to recognise and support the vital role that carers play in our society.

Of course we need to do more.

The care referendum will place a further obligation on me, as Minister, and indeed on all future Governments to continue to strive to support our carers.

It is an obligation I welcome.

Recognising Carers in our constitution strengthens my hand and will strengthen the hand of future Ministers to advocate for further improvements for our Carers.

This is a progressive and positive step and will finally ensure that we constitutionally recognise the vital role our carers play in our communities.

I’m asking you to vote Yes and Yes on March 8th.