Q&A: What are the two referenda about?
Double Favour Parties Yes All A In Government Of Are Vote The
The campaign for two referenda officially kicked off on Thursday morning as the Electoral Commission launched its information campaign around the votes. Here is everything that you need to know.
Both votes will take place on March 8.
The 39th Amendment to the Constitution will be on a white coloured ballot paper and it deals with Article 41.1.1 and Article 41.3.1 of the Constitution, both of which relate to the family and proposes to insert the words “whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships”.
This would change the line that "the State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law".
It also proposes the deletion of the words “on which the Family is founded” from Article 41.3.1, which refers to the institution of marriage.
The 40th Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023 proposes to delete Article 41.2 from the Constitution which reads:
"In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home."
The vote would then insert an Article 42B with the following wording:
"The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to Society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision."
If a Yes vote on the 39th Amendment is successful, the Constitutional protection of the family would be given to both the family based on marriage and the family founded on “other durable relationships”. Essentially, a successful vote would grant constitutional protection to families even if they are not based on marriage.
If a Yes vote on the 40th Amendment is successful, the state will "recognise the importance to the common good of the care provided by family members to each other" and would provide that the State would “strive to support” the provision of such care within families.
All the Government parties are in favour of a double Yes vote, while Labour and the Social Democrats have said they will campaign for the same. Sinn Féin will also campaign for two Yes votes, its housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin indicated.