Fears upcoming referendum could be hijacked by far-right
And Are the Place 8 On To On International March The
Fears have been raised that the upcoming referendum on care and family could be hijacked by those spreading misinformation and threaten the outcome.
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman and Labour leader Ivana Bacik are among those flagging concerns about the potential for the far-right to mobilise and turn it into a culture war issue.
The two referenda, to change wording within the Constitution on family and care, are due to take place on International Women’s Day, on March 8.
They will cover proposals to amend Article 41 of the Constitution to provide for a wider concept of the family, beyond one defined by marriage; and to delete Article 41.2 and its reference to the role of women in the home and insert a new article — 42B — that recognises care provided within a family.
Mr O’Gorman said he believed there would be attempts to bring “extraneous issues” into the referendum, particularly around trans rights.
“I think it's the job of Government and the job of everyone in civil society campaigning for a yes vote to push back against that, to talk about what this referendum is about, and talk about how this is the opportunity to do something that people have been talking about doing for years,” Mr O’Gorman said.
“I think it's likely these issues will be raised, I think we've already seen some people try and link the proposed change in the Constitution to issues to do with trans rights. There's absolutely no link. I will be saying that, Government will be saying that, the organisations who campaign for this will be saying that.”
Ms Bacik said while the far-right may attempt to mobilise, this must not prevent the referendum from taking place.
“I think it is a concern and I think we may well see the far-right mobilising but I don’t think that should push us off what’s right to do,” Ms Bacik said.
Dr Eileen Culloty, an assistant professor at the DCU School of Communications and expert on disinformation, said while the two referenda may seem uncontroversial, there may be efforts made to turn them into a culture war issue.
“On the surface, removing a constitutional reference to women's place in the home seems uncontroversial. But gender and identity are at the heart of culture war activism,” Ms Culloty said.
“Right-wing media and far-right activists in Ireland and elsewhere champion a return to traditional values. At the most extreme end of the scale, that has given rise to aggressive protests at public libraries. There is a ready-made alternative media and activist network to exploit the referendum for their own agendas.”
The newly established Electoral Commission will be tasked with providing impartial information to the public about the two referenda, its first electoral test since its establishment earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the commission confirmed the upcoming information campaign on the referendum will incorporate “awareness-raising regarding the dangers of misinformation, disinformation and online manipulation”.