Where to start with the recent referendums?
A shambles, from start to finish, and a costly shambles, at that. Holding Friday’s Care and Family Amendment referendums cost the country – that’s us – €23 million, or the equivalent of almost 93,000 Carers Allowance payments. Before we even start getting into the nitty-gritty of principles, votes and campaigns, the arrogance of the Government’s abysmal performance in the run-up given the level of expenditure involved speaks volumes about its regard – or lack thereof – for the electorate and our money.
There is so much to unpick, not least the fact that the rejection of the proposed 40th Amendment was the highest ever in the history of the State, with just 26.1 percent of voters in favour of the Care Amendment. That is damning, particularly with a general election just around the corner.
In the first instance, the waiving of pre-legislative scrutiny in the Oireachtas was a real failure of democracy. Had this been permitted, it might have resulted in some egg on government faces, but it might also have ensured that the €23 million was better spent, and the voices of those who would be most affected by these amendments might have been heard sooner. Opposition parties must accept their failure here to hold the government to account.
In the second instance, the fact that Minister Roderic O’Gorman chose to essentially ignore and bury the Attorney General’s advice that the wording of the Care Amendment could lead to legal challenges backfired badly when it was leaked to online publication, On the Ditch. An incident that essentially sealed the ‘No’ vote.
Despite it being rejected by a smaller proportion, the Family Amendment is the bigger, more embarrassing loss for the Government, because their lazy campaign allowed bad faith actors to peddle wild misinformation and fear monger to their hearts’ content. This, despite Leo loftily declaring as recently as December that “We will push back strongly against misinformation and distraction from any source.” Where was he, when all over social media, we were reading rubbish about women and mothers being erased from the Constitution?
The phrase ‘durable relationship’ led to wildly outlandish claims about family homes being at risk from one-night-stands and polyamory, despite the phrase already being present in existing legislation. This amendment was never going to do anything other than grant other types of families – of which there are many – acknowledgement under the Constitution. As tokenistic as that may be, it is still a real shame, not to mention hurtful to many, that a supposedly progressive, well-educated society rejected it so comprehensively. Little wonder the far right and religious and political conservatives are simultaneously claiming it as a victory.
But while the Care Amendment is complex in many ways, it can at least be credited for opening up a conversation that was long overdue, about how we treat both carers and people who receive care in this country. The latter group is one whose voices are rarely solicited, platformed or heeded, and it is a real shame that – as in the Repeal referendum – individuals had to share deeply personal stories in order to be heard. So-called feminist and social care organisations turned off comments and refused to engage online with people with disabilities raising objections, lest their slickly branded ‘Yes Yes’ campaigns be sullied by people with lived experience.
As far back as 2018 I argued strongly in this paper against the removal of Article 41.2, because I felt its elimination would absolve the Government from obligations already held under the constitution – albeit tokenistic, again – to ensure that no parent should have to be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour outside the home. Instead, I argued that some tweaks to the existing wording would have sufficed. I still hold that position and it informed my vote.
However, the Government chose to completely ignore the advice of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality, and somehow managed to botch the wording to not only disenfranchise women and mothers, but to remind disabled people that their independent futures were essentially dependent on the goodwill of their own families.
The State has abdicated its responsibility to ensure that disabled people can live fulfilled lives and fully participate in society, and the proposed wording was widely viewed by disabled people as further eroding their rights and autonomy. The massive contribution of carers to society now continues to be ignored in our Constitution with fading hopes for systemic reform. And this outcome is somehow viewed as a triumph by huge swathes of the population.
Taking all these factors into account, the decision to hold the votes on International Women’s Day and so close to Mother’s Day was the ultimate insult. The Government now needs to scrap the disgracefully ableist Green Paper and immediately ratify the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is the very least they can do, after the contempt they have displayed.
If you were a wheelchair user trying to vote on Friday, chances were you were met with a blank stare if you looked for an accessible polling booth. Wheelchair users I know were forced to vote at children’s school desks with no screens placed in the middle of rooms. Even when exercising their most basic democratic right, their right to privacy, dignity and equality was either not guaranteed, or completely denied.
Says it all, really.
OPINION: Referendums a failure on so many levels
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14.03.2024
Where to start with the recent referendums?
A shambles, from start to finish, and a costly shambles, at that. Holding Friday’s Care and Family Amendment referendums cost the country – that’s us – €23 million, or the equivalent of almost 93,000 Carers Allowance payments. Before we even start getting into the nitty-gritty of principles, votes and campaigns, the arrogance of the Government’s abysmal performance in the run-up given the level of expenditure involved speaks volumes about its regard – or lack thereof – for the electorate and our money.
There is so much to unpick, not least the fact that the rejection of the proposed 40th Amendment was the highest ever in the history of the State, with just 26.1 percent of voters in favour of the Care Amendment. That is damning, particularly with a general election just around the corner.
In the first instance, the waiving of pre-legislative scrutiny in the Oireachtas was a real failure of democracy. Had this been permitted, it might have resulted in some egg on government faces, but it might also have ensured that the €23 million was better spent, and the voices of those who would be most affected by these amendments might have been heard sooner. Opposition parties must accept their failure here to hold the government to account.
In the second instance, the fact that Minister Roderic O’Gorman chose to essentially........
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