A TURNOUT of less than 30 percent has been forecast for the March 8th referendums.
Typically two out of every three voters abstain when it comes to a Referendum in Ireland and a similar pattern is expected to unfold this Friday when Irish citizens are asked to vote in two referendums to change our Constitution.
The first Referendum concerns the concept of Family in the Constitution. The second Referendum proposes to delete an existing part of the Constitution and insert new text providing recognition for care provided by family members to each other.
For the Family amendment there is one vote for two proposed changes, this ballot will be done on white coloured paper. The Constitution currently recognises the centrality of the family unit in society and protects the Family founded on marriage.
The proposal involves the insertion of additional text to Article 41.1.1° which reads, “The State recognises the Family, whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships, as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law”. The new addition is the line “whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships”.
In Article 41.3.1°. it is proposed to delete text. It currently reads, “The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack”. The proposal wishes to remove the line “on which the Family is founded”.
If a majority votes yes, then the Constitution will change. The constitutional protection of the Family would be given to both the Family based on marriage and the Family founded on “other durable relationships”. The Family founded on marriage means the unit based on a marriage between two people without distinction as to their sex. The Family founded on other durable relationships means a Family based on different types of committed and continuing relationships other than marriage. So, different types of family units would have the same constitutional rights and protections. The institution of Marriage will continue to be recognised as an institution that the State must guard with special care and protect against attack.
If a majority votes NO, then the present Articles 41.1.1° and 41.3.1° would remain unchanged. Article 41.1.1° would therefore continue to give special constitutional status only to the Family based on marriage between two people, without distinction as to their sex. Article 41.3.1° would also continue to recognise Marriage as an institution that the State must guard with special care and protect against attack.
For the Care Referendum, the 40th Amendment to the Constitution will be on a green coloured ballot paper. It proposes deleting the current Articles 41.2.1° and 41.2.2° and inserting a new Article 42B.
In this amendment there is one vote for two proposed changes. The proposal involves deleting Article 41.2.1° and Article 41.2.2° and inserting a new Article 42B which reads, “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”.
If a majority votes YES, Articles 41.2.1° and 41.2.2° will be deleted, and a new Article 42B will be inserted into the Constitution. It is proposed to delete the entirety of current Article 41.2 and insert a new Article 42B. The new 42B would, firstly, recognise the importance to the common good of the care provided by family members to each other. Secondly, it would provide that the State would “strive to support” the provision of such care within families.
If a majority votes NO, then the present Articles 41.2.1° and 41.2.2° of the Constitution will remain unchanged. Article 41.2 would continue to recognise the importance to the common good of the life of women within the home. It would also continue to require the State to endeavour to ensure that mothers should not have to go out to work to the neglect of their “duties in the home”.
An Ipsos/B&A survey for The Irish Times last week showed six out of 10 people favoured the change on women at home, while over half backed change to definition of family. Voter apathy makes the issues at risk to determined No campaigners sowing doubt – and only 8 percent of people last week said they were well-informed on the issues.
