JOAN BURTON HAS been all around the country campaigning in recent weeks and is now making the final push for a Yes vote in Friday’s same-sex marriage referendum.
The Tánaiste has been doing a series of media interviews this week advocating a Yes vote and today she hosted the party’s final campaign press conference.
Beforehand, the Labour party leader dropped by TheJournal.ie offices to talk about the campaign and what she thinks will happen on Friday…
1. She is pretty annoyed about some of those No posters
The No side has consistently raised the issues of adoption and surrogacy during the course of the referendum and put it front and centre of its poster campaign.
Burton, who was adopted as a baby, isn’t happy about them:
When I see the No posters around surrogacy saying that the only relationship you might have with your mother is nine months in the womb, as somebody who’s adopted, I find those posters hurtful, demeaning on the matter of the referendum, they’re actually misleading.
2. Actually, she can’t understand the No side
Burton thinks some on the No side haven’t thought about the positive benefit of gay and lesbian people wanting to access the institution of marriage.
Some of the No people, who see themselves as conservative in terms of family values, should recognise that gay and lesbian people wanting to be involved in the institution of marriage is in fact a very strong support to marriage. I am not sure that some of those people have thought about that.
3. We asked her to rule out holding another referendum if this one doesn’t pass…
But Burton just wouldn’t go there:
4. She’s very confident about the referendum passing…
Unsurprisingly, the Tánaiste is “confident and hopeful” that Yes will prevail on Friday, but she’s taking nothing for granted. Of the No side having closed the lead in recent weeks, she said:
In all of the referenda that I have experience of, it normally tightens quite a lot between Yes and No as polling day approaches because, frankly, a lot of individual citizens only get engaged in referenda issues in the three weeks before the polling date and then every week that advances closer to the polling date, generally, it gets tighter.
5. … but she won’t put figures on it
There were some raised eyebrows at a story in today’s Irish Times with ministers anonymously predicting the outcome could be 60:40 in favour of Yes.
Burton is not putting a figure on it. Here’s why:
6. Finally, she’s voting Yes in that ‘other’ referendum
Labour is not taking a position on the presidential age referendum. One of their ministers has already told us he’s voting No to the reduction in the age of eligibility for candidates from 35 to 21.
We asked the Tánaiste if it was a mistake to run this vote at all given polls indicate it will be defeated:
Note: We asked the No campaign for a representative to respond to Burton in an on-camera interview this afternoon, but no one was made available.
Originally published 7pm
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