TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has reaffirmed a commitment to holding a referendum in November to amend the “women in the home” clause in the Irish constitution.
His comments come after rumours that the referendum was likely to be pushed out further following already significant delays.
The Taoiseach said there has been “some difficulty agreeing on the wording” of the proposed amendment.
He pointed out that there are two key issues at play, the wording in the Constitution that says the family is founded on marriage and the clause relating to the role of women in the home.
“I think we all agree that in the modern world, there are lots of families that are not married families.
“Families led by grandparents; families led by couples that aren’t married; one-parent families; but we need to make sure that we get that wording right and people don’t misinterpret it,” Varadkar said.
“I have a fear that people will misinterpret us as trying to delete the family or to delete marriage when actually the Constitution protects marriage and the family, but it’s the linking of the two that is something that we think should change.
“We are conscious that referendums can go wrong – low turnouts, extraneous arguments being brought into the picture, so we’re wise to that,” he added.
On the ‘women in the home’ clause, the Taoiseach said the government wants to be sure that the Constitution still recognises the value of care in the home.
“In relation to replacing the old-fashioned wording around the role of women in the home with something affirmative, deletion is easy, but we want to replace it with something affirmative, which recognises the value of care in the home. Again we just need to get that right.
“And once you put wording in the Constitution, it’s the courts that decide what it means, not people who get elected by the people. So we just need to make sure we get the wording right. But we’re going to do it and the intention is still to do it by the end of November,” he said.
In its current form, the article 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 neglect of their duties in the home.
The Taoiseach first promised a referendum on this issue back in 2017, and one was due to be held in October 2018 but this was delayed due to the difficulties surrounding the wording of any change.
A Citizens’ Assembly was then held on gender equality in 2021 with the deletion and replacement of Article 41.2 of the Constitution one of a raft of recommendations that came out of it.
Along with the removal of Article 41.2, the assembly recommend amending Article 41, which recognises the family as the natural and fundamental unit group of society as a moral institution.
It said the family should not be limited to the marital family. It also suggests inserting a new clause into Article 40, which centres on Fundamental Rights to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination.
However, this was not the first time the government looked to involve citizens on this issue. Back in 2013, the constitutional convention established by the government examined the issue, with 88 per cent of delegates voting in favour of amending the article.
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