Thread from January 1st 2024
Questionable spin put on the Constitution's wording by Minister @rodericogorman in today's @irishtimes: ‘Progressive’ organisations must explain any decision not to support referendum, says Minister – The Irish Times
"Roderic O’Gorman said a rejection of the changes... 'would leave a status quo saying that you and millions of women in our country, that their duties are in the home, or indeed that tens of thousands of families aren’t actually recognised'."
Archived article here: ‘Progressive’ organisations must explain any decision not to support referendum, says Minister – The Irish Times (archive.org)
The Constitution says that mothers "shall not be obliged" to work through economic necessity to the "neglect of their duties in the home". Men have household duties and chores too but this is clearly a farsighted protection for MOTHERS.
Women's Space Ireland
This Constitutional guarantee hadn't been tested to the surprise of the late Mr Justice Brian Walsh. And as former Chief Justice Ms Susan Denham pointed out: https://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2013/05/convention-on-the-constitution-role-of-women-report.pdf
The Government must be worried that the referenda may fail when it's already resorting to bullying NGOs which it largely funds even before the Electoral Commission is up and running.
Balanced reportage needed from now on please.
https://electoralcommission.ie/referendums/
Our Work on Referendums
Postscript: letters in The Irish Times today in reaction to the Minister's comments:
