The people of the Republic of Ireland have voted against proposed amendments to the Irish Constitution, which would have altered the wording to include families that aren’t based on marriage and would have changed wording about the role of women in the home. In total, 67.7% of voters rejected the changes around families, while 73.9% voted ‘no’ to the proposed wording on the role of women, the highest ever percentage of ‘no’ votes in an Irish referendum. The only constituency that narrowly voted in favour of the family changes was Dún Laoghaire in southeast Dublin. The referendum had a turnout of 44.4%.
The Irish Prime Minister, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, accepted the result, acknowledging that the government had “failed to convince the majority of people to vote ‘Yes'”. He said it was clear both amendments had been “defeated comprehensively on a respectable turnout”. Meanwhile, the Irish deputy prime minister, Micheál Martin, fully accepted the decision of the Irish people. Sinn Féin, which had campaigned for a “yes-yes” vote, was jeered as its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, arrived at Dublin Castle, where the results were announced.
Those taking part in Friday’s referendum were asked to vote yes or no to two ballots – one white and one green. The white ballot concerned the proposed Thirty-Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, or Family amendment. Currently, the Irish constitution offers legal protections to the family unit, tying the concept of family to the institution
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