PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HEATHER Humphreys has said that people “didn’t understand” the 2024 referendum on removing reference to women in the home and amending the family article.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, the former Fine Gael minister said “maybe more groundwork should have been done” on the referendum and the proposed wording “wasn’t strong enough”.

The two referendums on family and care went before the people in March 2024. Both were resoundingly defeated. In the run-up to polling day the government faced scrutiny over the clarity of the proposed wording to amend and replace the existing articles.

Humphreys was Fine Gael’s director of elections for the referendums.

Today, she said: “When I look back now, I think perhaps there should’ve been more groundwork done. People didn’t understand what a durable relationship was.”

Humphreys was asked why she did partake in any television or radio debates prior to the referendum. Then Tánaiste Micheál Martin had debated failed presidential hopeful Maria Steen on the matter.

Humphreys acknowledged that more work was needed on the failed referendums and said that despite this, “the people are sovereign” and she respects the outcome of the votes.

“The term durable relationship was very vague. The idea of of striving support care – it wasn’t strong enough, and people were in doubt about it. They weren’t sure, and the old saying goes: if in doubt leave it out,” she said.

She rejected that holding the referendums wasn’t the right decision and said the recommendations to remove reference to women in the home and recognise relationships outside of marriage came from a Citizens’ Assembly.

“That was the recommendation and the government tried to bring forward a form of wording that would try to do that, and we probably didn’t put in enough work.

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“Maybe people didn’t understand. Maybe we should’ve put in more groundwork. That’s the truth. Because it was confusing.”

She asserted that the wording was the best that could be found at the time.

Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly disagreed with Humphreys. She said the referendums were understood by the people and the public’s decision must be respected.

““What the vote revealed was not confusion, but a deep sense that the proposals put forward did not go far enough in recognising care or protecting carers,” she said.