Ireland has modernized, Europeanized and put a stop to the once overwhelming influence of the Catholic Church, but up to a certain point. Asked in a referendum if they wanted to expand the concept of the traditional family, and eliminate references in the Constitution to the role of women in the home, citizens slammed their fists on the table, responded with a resounding no, and an implicit expression of “ “We could go that far.”
That the vote coincided with the global celebration of Women’s Day has not bothered the Irish, and has even –according to some commentators– pushed the no vote even more, as if the electorate were annoyed that the Government considered the consultation won and will present it as a battle for equality and inclusion, and against patriarchal society. But even more important factors have been the poor campaign of the yes supporters, the low participation and the lack of clarity about the meaning of the changes. In fact, feminist and progressive groups had also expressed their reservations.
Although the five million Irish were called to the polls on Friday, the counting did not begin until yesterday morning in the twenty-six counties of the republic, and continued throughout the day. From the first hour, however, it was clear that the ballots with Nil (no) formed a much larger pile than those for Tà (yes) in the electoral centers (the final result was 67.7% to 32.3%), and that the die was cast. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was quick to admit a crushing defeat.
The Irish have rejected two amendments to their Constitution. What would have been number 39 proposed expanding State support beyond the traditional family, to those who have a “stable relationship”, whether two people of the same or different sex who cohabit, or grandparents who take care of grandchildren due to death. or absence of parents. The Catholic bishops issued a statement opposing it on the grounds that it would “weaken the incentive of young people to marry,” while a group of lawyers criticized the vagueness of the language and warned that it could have unintended consequences in matters of hereditary litigation and immigration issues.
Amendment number 40 proposed eliminating constitutional references to the role of women in the home, and that “mothers should not go to the labor market in search of jobs at the expense of their obligations at home, which is supported by the State and necessary for the common good.” Even though this is very old-fashioned language (the Constitution is eighty years old and was written when the influence of the Catholic Church was enormous), the Irish also said no.
The reasons for the rejection of this second amendment are more complex, and have to do with the responsibilities of the State in terms of caring for the elderly and disabled, which has traditionally been the responsibility of women, and about which the alternative text was great ambiguity and, according to critics, left the rights of people with disabilities in the air, without sufficient support.
Ireland is a radically different country than it was in the early 1990s, when divorce and abortion were still illegal, and gay marriage was widely rejected. Successive referendums in 1995, 2015 and 2018 completely changed Irish society, reflecting the loss of influence of the Catholic Church and its traditional conception of what a family is, and of the role of women as loving wives and mothers. in charge of housework and taking care of the home. Perhaps that is why the Government did not put much effort into the campaign, assuming that the yes vote would win.
The overconfidence was not only from the Government (a coalition of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens), but also from the opposition parties (Labour and Sinn Féin, former political arm of the IRA and which is first in the polls of ahead of next year’s elections). The entire political establishment en masse supported constitutional reform but the voters of Ireland – like those of so many other countries – have shown that they are increasingly less in tune with their rulers.
Ireland is a unique country, with an enormous diaspora, which was neutral in World War II, whose main political parties are centrist and descended from the factions of Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins in the civil war, the extreme left has been very marginal and the extreme right has not existed. The latter, however, is making more and more noise, in line with what is happening in the rest of Europe.
