NATIONAL WOMEN’S COUNCIL Director Orla O’Connor has said today’s result is a “wake up call” for equality and women’s rights.

Speaking to The Journal at Dublin Castle, O’Connor said although we don’t know the scale, there was “ultimately” a proportion of people who voted No on the Care Referendum because they felt the wording did not go far enough. 

O’Connor said she was “deeply disappointed” and admitted that she was surprised by the scale of the No votes. 

“Ultimately, the people have spoken, and we need to think about why people have voted no. And I think there’s many reasons for it, we don’t know them all yet.

“We certainly know there’s a proportion of No voters who wanted wording to go further and felt that this referendum wasn’t delivering enough,” she said.

O’Connor said the Women’s Council would have expressed that concern before the referendum in advocating for the Citizens Assembly wording.

However, these concerns have not been captured in some international coverage of today’s result – with some overseas outlets reporting simply that Ireland has voted to keep ‘life within the home’ language for women in the Constitution.

O’Connor pointed out that it was more nuanced than this and said: “Ultimately, I think there’s a proportion of this vote today who wanted it to go further.

“So in our view, the Irish public do value care and they do value families. So we will go back and we will fight for those things and continue to fight for equality for families and equality for women.”

Government’s campaign 

O’Connor said the Women’s Council has taken the view that political parties campaigning for a Yes Yes vote did not mobilise enough on the ground.

“There is a real need for our political parties to look at what’s happened today,” she said.

O’Connor also argued that there was confusion over the wording. 

Elsewhere, Independent Senator Tom Clonan who had advocated for a No vote in the Care referendum told The Journal that he was relieved by today’s results. 

Clonan said the proposed wording would have brought Ireland into international disrepute because it was “completely contrary” to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“Specifically, article 19, which guarantees the rights of disabled adults to live independent, autonomous lives in the community,” Clonan said.

“Not living at home with the parents, which is what that wording would have put into our Constitution, given constitutional expression to the idea that family has exclusive responsibility for the care of disabled citizens.

That’s like something from the 19th century, and they were going to put that in.

“So I’m just really relieved that it was rejected by the Irish people,” Clonan said. 

The Independent Senator said now Ireland must act to legislate and vindicate the rights of disabled citizens. 

“We’re the only country in the European Union, where disabled citizens have no legal rights to care, to care supports, to therapies, to surgeries.

“So I’ve introduced legislation to change that and I want the Government to support it now,” Clonan said.

Clonan said he was completely taken by surprise at the scale of the No vote on care today and pointed to the fact many NGOs had campaigned for a Yes Yes vote. 

“They were actually endorsing a wording that is ableist, that is toxic to the rights of disabled people and carers. I found that really shocking.

“And a lot of people in the disabled community and carers were very distressed by that and were very hurt by that. And that’s going to have to be a part of the conversation in the coming weeks as well,” Clonan said.

Lone parents

Meanwhile, One Family, the group representing lone parent households which campaigned for a Yes Yes vote, has said it is devastated by the results so far. 

“It is so disappointing that this opportunity to include unmarried and single parent families in our Constitution has been rejected by the Irish people,” Karen Kiernan, the chief executive of One Family said.

Kiernan said the founders of the organisation have been campaigning for this for over 50 years.

“They started working in the 1970s to abolish illegitimacy, to get a small social welfare payment and to ensure single parents could no longer be fired or evicted.

“The fact that their heartfelt desire for their families to be included in the Constitution is no longer a reality in their lifetimes is a massive rejection to them,” she said.

Kiernan said the organisation would now regroup with other civil society organisations to “work in solidarity” towards a more equal Ireland for all.