The referendums and what they will change

ON March 8, Irish citizens will be asked to vote in two referendums to change the Constitution. The first referendum concerns the concept of family in the Constitution

Article 41.1.1 says: ‘The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.’

Article 41.3.1 says: ‘The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack.’

For the 39th Amendment, there is one vote for two proposed changes. The Proposal involves the insertion of ‘whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships’ to Article 41.1.1 and the deletion of ‘on which the Family is founded’ from Article 41.3.1.

The second referendum, the 40th Amendment to the Constitution, proposes deleting the Articles 41.2.1 and 41.2.2 and inserting a new Article 42B.

Article 41.2.1 says: ‘In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.’

Article 41.2.2 says: ‘The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.’

If the electorate votes to delete the current articles, a new article will be inserted, which will read: ‘The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by 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.’