Referendum will go right to the wire

LOCAL VOTE IS GETTING TIGHTER BY THE DAY

WHILE local TDs maybe saying ‘Yes’ to tomorrow’s marriage referendum they have conceded the result is far from a foregone conclusion - predicting it will go down to the wire.

With less than 24-hours until voting gets underway, it is looking increasingly likely that predictions of an overwhelming thumbs-up for ‘Yes’ side may have been a bit premature.

Labour junior minister Sean Sherlock said he believed the result would be “remarkably close” and a lot tighter than may have been previously thought.

Fine Gael’s David Stanton said he has met many who will vote Yes, but there are also many who have yet to decide which way to vote.

“Many of these may not decided up until the very last minute. An issue that may arise today or tomorrow could easily make up their minds for them,” he said.

His party colleague Tom Barry also said it was “too close to call.”

“There is a large middle ground of undecided voters and when people are unsure they tend to vote no That is the traditional default position of the Irish Voter,” he said.

Deputy Aine Collins (FG) felt the vote would pass in CNW by 45:55. However, closer to home in her own backyard of Duhallow, she felt the vote would go right down to the wire.

She said in the last three weeks, 700 young people in Duhallow registered to vote for the first time.

While Deputy Michael Moynihan (FF) has given his full backing to the Yes side of the campaign, it was his view that the ultimate deciding factor will be on the turnout on the day.

“Both at a local and national level, it will depend on the people who go to vote. In Duhallow, I have been contacted by people on both sides who both have genuine concerns,” he said.

Donal Nunan of the Mallow Pro-Family Group also said he believed the vote would be tight, with the result very much dependent on turnout.

“If it is a high turnout and a lot of younger people come out to vote, it is likely to be a Yes vote. If the turnout is low, it could well be a No vote,” said Mr Nunan.

“That, said I do believe many on the No side have been keeping their own council up to now and will come out to vote.”

THIS Friday you have the opportunity to extend to LGBT couples the constitutional rights and guarantees enjoyed by civilly-married heterosexual couples. That’s all.

Despite all the scaremongering, this referendum isn’t about fear. It’s about love.

This referendum is about real people, real lives. Look at the powerful testimonies of people like Pat Carey and Ursula Halligan and Justin McAleese. Think about all those lives ruined, all that love denied. You mightn’t know it, but this referendum may well be about your brother or sister, your son or daughter, your neighbour or friend.

This is a head-to-head debate. Alongside this is a piece advocating a No vote. It probably contains the usual red herrings about adoption and/or surrogacy, redefining marriage and/or family. It may say civil partnership – despite having no constitutional protection – is as good as marriage.

Rather than waste your time telling you this is not about adoption or surrogacy, I’ll trust your intelligence and ask you to go to www.refcom.ie, the independent Referendum Commission’s website. There you’ll see unbiased confirmation that the No campaign is arguing about everything except what’s in this referendum. This referendum is about kindness, generosity and love and the No campaign’s only weapon against that is fear.

‘It won’t redefine what marriage is,’ says Referendum Commission chairman, Mr Justice Kevin Cross. ‘It will redefine… who can marry.’ This is, simply, about extending the embrace of constitutional recognition to the love of the 10% of Irish citizens who are gay.

To vote, you’ll need identification. A marriage certificate – accompanied by proof of address – will be accepted. The Department of the Environment confirms that a civil partnership certificate is not valid identification. So much for civil partnership being as good as marriage.

The No campaign claims every leading Irish children’s charity – and Ireland’s leading authority on adoption - are conspiring against children’s best interests. For all their concern about children, Ireland has long been a cold house for many of its children. Forced adoptions, Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries illustrate a cruel and deeply unequal country where discrimination and abuse reigned.

I believe equality should be the cornerstone of our Republic. I believe we should cherish all the children of our Nation equally. I believe that we, the citizens of Ireland, should extend to gay couples the same constitutional rights and guarantees enjoyed by civilly-married straight couples.

The No campaign talks about ‘protecting the traditional family’. One in three Irish families is non-traditional. Children have grown up in non-traditional families since Jesus was a small boy. Life is complicated. Love isn’t.

A Yes will send a powerful message of acceptance, respect and love to all our children – one in ten of whom is gay.

A Yes will say to our children that regardless of the colour of your eyes, the shape of your face or the love in your heart – you are as Irish, as ‘normal’ and as extraordinary as every child of this Republic. A Yes is a vote for love. Please vote Yes.