Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Saturday two government-supported referendums seeking to amend the Irish constitution to more broadly define families and the roles of women were defeated at the polls.
The prime minister and his government had sought to update language in the constitution — some of which had been written in 1937 or earlier — to reflect modern sensibilities.
At a news conference in Dublin, Varadkar said it was clear the votes were destined to fail, and he took responsibility for not selling people on the need for the changes. “It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote ‘Yes.’ And we clearly failed to do so.”
The voters were asked to respond to two questions:
The first concerned the definition of family, and they were asked to remove a reference to marriage as the basis “on which the family is founded” and replace it with a clause that said families can be founded “on marriage or on other durable relationships," such as cohabiting couples and their children.
The second question proposed erasing a reference deemed outdated by referring to a women’s place as being in the home, which suggests they have a duty to take care of other people under their roof. It would have been replaced with broader language, including a clause recognizing care provided by family members for one another.
Some voters told The Associated Press they were confused by the questions, and others said they feared changes would lead to unintended consequences. The Associated Press reported advocates for the rights of the disabled felt the language mitigated the state’s obligations to care for them.
The proposed changes had been endorsed by a broad spectrum of Ireland’s political parties, and polls leading up to the vote Friday indicated they would easily pass.
But as the vote grew closer, polls indicated more conservative voices opposing the changes were having an impact.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
