Varadkar wants to show carers his caring side after vote fiasco
‘Wording wasn’t strong enough’
THE Government has to demonstrate to carers it is ‘on their side’, the Taoiseach has said.
Leo Varadkar said the Government could continue to increase payments to carers and people with disabilities, relax means tests and improve the home-care tax credit.
The Government is under pressure to prove through policy and legislation that it support carers after the loss of a referendum to put care into the Constitution.
The care amendment would have removed language which protects a mother’s ‘duties in the home’ and inserted an article which said that the State would ‘strive to support’ the provision of care by family members to one another. The proposed changes were roundly criticised by many who said ‘strive’ was not strong enough and that the Government could choose to better support carers through policy. The amendment was defeated, with 73% voting against it – a record loss.
Mr Varadkar also said the Government could improve parental leave to give parents more choice about when or if they return to work. Speaking in Washington DC, the Taoiseach said: ‘I think we need to, obviously, demonstrate to carers and people with disabilities we are on their side and we are working in their interests.’
He said Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys is looking at a review of the means tests and various payments, as well as examining a State-contributory pension for carers. He added: ‘The real difficulty there isn’t financial, or lack of concern or care from the Government – it’s finding skilled people who are qualified to do the job and willing to do the job, and that’s been a real struggle for us.’
Mr Varadkar said the Government received two wallops from the electorate in a twin defeat that also saw a proposal on amending the constitutional recognition of family voted down.
It emerged after the defeat that several Government TDs did not vote in favour of the amendments, despite all the Coalition parties campaigning for a double Yes.
Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers, the Leader of the Seanad, revealed she voted No to both proposals after she had canvassed for her party for a Yes on both counts. Senator Chambers told the Irish Daily Mail that while she changed her mind in the final days of the campaign in relation to the care amendment, she would not have supported removing the word ‘mother’ from the Constitution.
‘I was never going to support that one, when I looked at it and saw the word mother taken out,’ she said.
However, it was revealed last week by the Mail that, over a year earlier, Ms Chambers had advocated for wording that would have removed the word ‘mother’ from the Constitution.
Ms Chambers was a member of the cross-party Gender Equality Committee, established on foot of the Citizens’ Assembly, to examine issues such as constitutional amendments. The committee produced a report in 2022 which proposed wording for the care and family marriage referendums where the word ‘mother’ would be removed.
Fianna Fáil TD Niamh Smyth also revealed she voted against the care amendment despite canvassing for Yes. ‘I listened to the debate and I felt that people who are much more involved in disability... felt the wording wasn’t strong enough and didn’t represent what they wanted in our Constitution, and for that reason, I voted No,’ she told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív also said he voted No in both referendums, but did not take part in campaigning. The Mail revealed last week that Fianna Fáil’s James Browne, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, flew to Vietnam on March 7, the day before polling.
However, a Department of Justice spokesman said Mr Browne voted by postal vote before leaving.