The Irish Government plans to hold a series of referenda in November 2023 to further alter the Irish Constitution as the next stage in its radical modernisation. Announced on March 8, International Women’s Day, An Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar confirmed that three changes to the 86-year-old constitution are being proposed, with the exact wording to be formulated by the parliament in coming months.
The announcement follows a “Citizen’s Assembly on Gender Equality”, which issued a report two years ago with a long list of recommendations for the government.
A Special Oireachtas (parliament) Committee on Gender Equality was established after this and met from December 2021 to consider the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations.
This committee concluded its work and published its final report last December. In this report, the committee set out its own recommendations and an action plan, including recommendations for a referendum or referenda on Articles 40 and 41 of the constitution.
Chaired by now Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik and comprised primarily of socially “progressive” members of parliament, the committee’s recommendations have long been considered a foregone conclusion, a matter of when rather than if.
In her foreword to the committee report, Bacik attempted to speak for the people, pre-empting the result of the popular vote: “It has long been agreed that the way in which women and mothers are referred to in Article 41 is based on outdated gender stereotypes and should have no place in a constitutional text. In addition, the definition of family in the same Article has long been criticised for being insufficiently inclusive of diverse family forms in contemporary Ireland.”
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