Ireland will become an apartheid state if we vote ‘Yes’
Senator’s warning of big threat to disabled
A “YES” vote in the care referendum would “turn Ireland into an apartheid state, where disabled people cannot participate”, a senator said yesterday.
In an interview with the Irish Mirror, Tom Clonan said the Government claims Friday’s vote would remove the so-called “women’s place in the home” clause from the constitution,
But he insisted it would “literally force women to do care in the home with no State support”.
He also spoke about the impact a lack of services has had on his son Eoghan, 22, who has a rare neuromuscular disease and is a wheelchair user – and on his other children. Just last week his 16-year-old son had to return home from school activities to help Eoghan go to the bathroom as there was no assistance available to him that day.
There are two referenda being held on Friday.
The first, which will appear on a white ballot paper, is being referred to as the family amendment.
This will expand the definition of a family to include those in “durable relationships”.
The care amendment, which will be on a green ballot paper, will remove the so-called “women in the home” clause that states “mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of her duties in the home”.
The new amendment would add a clause stating: “The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by the 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.”
Senator Clonan is advocating for a no vote in the care referendum.
He said: “If it is voted through, it’s an act of collective self-harm for the Irish people.
“Because it will give the HSE an out, When you ask them for help, they’ll say, ‘Well, that’s the family. That’s in our Constitution’.”
Polling stations will open Friday between 7am and 10pm.