A ‘horrible vision of society’ rejected in Friday’s referenda

The Irish will never want to remove ‘mothers’ from the Constitution, writes David Quinn

No-one expected such resounding defeats of the two referendums put before the Irish people by the Government, proposals that were backed by every party in the Dail aside from Aontu with its one TD, and Independent Ireland with its three.

The referendum aimed at removing the word ‘mother’ from the Constitution was beaten by a massive three to one, and the referendum aimed at introducing the nebulous term ‘durable relationships’ into the text was defeated by two to one.

In other words, almost the entirety of the political (and media) establishment found themselves at odds with an overwhelming majority of voters.

Scale

To put the scale of the defeats for our political class in context, same-sex marriage was passed by a 24-point margin, repeal of the 8th Amendment by a 33-point margin, but the ‘durable relationships’ proposal was beaten by 34 points and the one on ‘carers’ by an absolutely stunning 48 points.

The big majority in favour of repealing the pro-life amendment was a big disappointment for those of us who believe all human life should be valued from the womb to the tomb. Most of us probably believed after this that the public appetite for further liberal changes to the Constitution would persist. So, clearly, did the Government.

The Government hoped it would be able to frame the debate as another contest between Catholic Ireland and modern Ireland, between the Ireland of de Valera and John Charles McQuaid, and the ‘bright, tolerant, and all-inclusive new Ireland’ (as the Government would see it).

His liberal credentials could not be denied. He was no representative of Dev’s Ireland. His legal credentials could not be denied either”

But things did not work out like that at all. A major spanner was put in the works early on by Senator Michael McDowell, the former Justice Minister and former Attorney General who voted for same-sex marriage in 2015 and to repeal the 8th in 2018.

His liberal credentials could not be denied. He was no representative of Dev’s Ireland. His legal credentials could not be denied either.

Then, various commentators who also voted Yes in 2015 and 2018 emerged such as Brenda Power and Sarah Carey. Embarrassingly for the Government these were women, and they weren’t buying the line that the section of the Constitution on mothers was totally sexist and should be ditched.

They did agree that some of the language was out-of-date but not the basic sentiment to try and protect mothers from being forced out of the home by economic necessity.

Usual suspects

Some of the ‘usual suspects’ did take part in the debate. I appeared on a couple of programmes, as did Senator Rónán Mullen. Maria Steen appeared on three RTÉ programmes during the campaign, including the last major debate on RTÉ television.

This was Prime Time on the Tuesday night before the vote. Maria appeared on the show with Tánaiste Micheal Martin.

He is supposed to be a seasoned professional. He looked anything but that night”

I actually wondered in advance whether Martin would try to paint her in the colours of ‘old Ireland’ to try and warn the middle ground off her, and he did indeed try to do it, but it backfired very badly.

He accused her of being a “prophet of doom” in past referendums such as the ones on marriage, abortion and divorce. But as she pointed out, she was too young to take part in the divorce debate. She said she was proud to take part in the other two.

However, Martin accused her in such a snide, peevish and contemptuous way, that it came over very badly. He was like a desperate boxer who knew he was being out-pointed took a last, lunging swing at his opponent, missed, and fell to the canvass instead.

He is supposed to be a seasoned professional. He looked anything but that night.

In any given referendum on social issues, you can count on about a third of people to vote for the ‘conservative’ position, a third for the liberal position and the rest will be the middle. It is obviously crucial to land the third in the middle.

Split

What is interesting about the last few referendums is that the third in the middle all come down on one side or the other in the last days and do not split. This is what handed a heavy defeat to the pro-life side in 2018 and has handed an even heavier defeat to the Government this time.

Where does this leave us? I don’t think it means Ireland is suddenly about to embrace the Church again, not by any means.

But there is clearly a limit to the public appetite for being asked to constantly move in a more liberal direction, and especially when even the Government wasn’t clear on what they were asking. They could never explain properly what a “durable relationship” is.

I think that if the Government asked people to give some kind of Constitutional recognition to non-marital families, they might have voted for that, dependent on the wording.

For example, on this point the German Constitution says: “Children born outside of marriage shall be provided by legislation with the same opportunities for physical and mental development and for their position in society as are enjoyed by those born within marriage.”

We want to see motherhood given a special place in this country, even if our political establishment does not”

But I don’t see any way the Irish people will ever delete the word ‘mother’ from the Constitution. They might opt for a less old-fashioned version of the so-called ‘woman in the home’ provision, but not one without the word ‘mother’ in it.

We want to see motherhood given a special place in this country, even if our political establishment does not.

Since the results came out, mothers have continued to be almost totally ignored by the Government and main opposition parties and, be it noted, by the National Women’s Council which receives almost €1 million per annum from the State to represent the voices of all women, but clearly represents the voices of only some women. It certainly does not represent mothers.

Mothers are easily ignored because they are not politically mobilised. They are too busy doing other things.

The Government only pays them attention in the form of extra money for daycare even though most mothers don’t want to put their children in daycare and would prefer to mind them at home if they had the economic freedom to do so.

Any smart political party will develop policies aimed specially at mothers. Aontú and Independent Ireland are the most likely to do that.

The main parties will not because they don’t want to protect mothers from being forced out of the home by economic necessity.

They want them all in paid work and all their children in daycare. What a horrible vision of society. As we can now see, it is not one shared by the public.