By Dan Walsh
Next Friday, March 8th, is Polling Day (7am to 10pm) and Irish citizens will be asked to vote in two Referendums on Family and Care to change the Constitution. Every household should have received an information booklet in the post.
Gorey based Cllr. Andrew Bolger, a practicing Barrister, weighs in on the Referendum in a statement issued to WexfordLocal.com this evening.
Cllr Bolger said; “I think the family amendment is a positive change. Originally, the family was viewed as a marital family with the father as the provider and the woman as the caregiver. We know ‘old Ireland’ and this was the view at the time in the 1930s and it stems from the idea that the family has always been there and having it in our Constitution is merely recognising it, not establishing it.”
Cllr. Bolger was asked what a ‘durable relationship’ is? His reply; “I would say that this is the ‘modern family’, we know these families and presently in society, we don’t see them as any less than being a family. Should this question come before the Courts they will consider what our intention was at the time of voting. The commentary around the Referendum may very well become important at a later stage. Essentially, it is a family based on different types of committed and continuing relationships other than marriage.”
Cllr. Bolger was keen to stress that the Constitution will continue to say that the State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage.
The second amendment is the Care amendment. This has been referred to as the ‘women in the home’ Referendum. “It’s the care that will be valued rather than the so-called ‘duties of a woman’. Once again, we must look back to 1937 when the Constitution came into being. The social norm at this time means that the wording ‘woman’ actually means ‘mother’ in the Constitution.”
Cllr Bolger continues; “In the proposed amendment women are not being demoted. It’s accepting that care in the home doesn’t fall to women and women alone. When the Courts are applying the value of care in the home, they seem to be ahead of the game. They already apply the value of the care in the home as being equal across both genders. Essentially, should this amendment pass, it will reflect what is already happening in practice.”
WexfordLocal.com 