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CHILDREN AND INTEGRATION Minister Roderic O’Gorman has said he is “extremely disappointed” by the anticipated No/No outcome in the Family and Care referendums.
Speaking to reporters at Dublin Castle this afternoon, O’Gorman said that when the Government puts a question to the public in terms of constitutional amendments, that it is “up to the Government to make the case that that amendment would pass”.
“We have not succeeded in making that case to the Irish people today. I accept that decision and Government accepts the decision,” he said.
O’Gorman said he will not resign as a result of the outcome of the votes.
Speaking about what might have lead to No results, O’Gorman said “it’s clear that throughout this campaign issues were raised, issues that I think were incorrect, interpretations that I believe were incorrect”.
“We weren’t successful in convincing people,” O’Gorman said, but added that the Government arguments “were strong”.
‘We didn’t convince people’ says Minister Roderic O’Gorman pic.twitter.com/UvYsGzm3aD
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) March 9, 2024
The proposed wording for the Care referendum differs from the wording recommended by both the Citizens’ Assembly and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality in that it omits any reference to rights to care in the community or outside the home.
O’Gorman said that the departure from the words recommended by the Assembly “meant that some of those NGOs, civil society organisations, who would have been supportive originally didn’t feel they could support … I think that was certainly an element”.
The Minister also said “people didn’t see the urgency” of the change.
“People didn’t see the urgency on these two issues like they would have seen in the case of Repeal, in the case of marriage equality,” he said.
O’Gorman also admitted that there probably would have been a bigger turn out had the referendums be run on the same day as the European and local election day in June.
On Thursday, The Ditch published articles containing leaked advice from Attorney General Rossa Fanning to Minister O’Gorman on the Care and Family referendums.
In relation to the Family referendum wording, he said that policymakers would be required to offer greater weight to the rights of the non-marital family, including in child care, immigration and social welfare.
“It is likely that issues relating to the application of Article 41 to non-marital families will be more heavily litigated than at present, for example it is foreseeable that the provision will be relied upon in the context of immigration and surrogacy.”
Fanning told the Minister that the amendment will have little impact on immigration.
“As referenced above, it is foreseeable that the amended Article 41.1.1° will be relied upon in the context of immigration. However, in my view, it is unlikely that it will have any particularly significant effect in this area,” he said.
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, O’Gorman said that “it’s very frustrating to see the Attorney General’s advice leaked, or partial advice leaked, at the very end of the campaign”.
“Even if you look at the section that was leaked, it clearly states that immigration decisions wouldn’t be changed by the family referendum,” he said.
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Its a NO to this government and their NGO,s of which RTE is one.
The people have spoken and it a massive No/No, it’s time you were gone now
@silvery moon: Nobody likes poor aul Rodders. His time is up, poor sod.
@Mike: he should resign and go and live with his good friend Peter Thatchell, another creepy person, just like O Gorma.
@silvery moon: Absolutely, but I fear the outcome? FF sold the sovereignty of the country a few years ago. Today they are back with their allies FG who have held the people under thumb since the formation of the state.
When are people going to realise that these conservative elements must be cleansed from their Dynastic Machiavellian thrones once and for all!
The people have but one chance? And that doesn’t need an explanation. That’s unless they have to be taken by the hand like school kids? Otherwise the workers deserve everything they get.
RESIGN
@M G: and take the rest of the cabbage heads with you.
No it because he is not fit for the position, he is also minister for disabilities, I have wrote to him, he doesn’t even respond, we were not confused with their intentions, to make families fully responsible for care, in our ever growing older population. Leo’s remarks made on live TV, not edited, LIve. !!
Roderic O’Gorman should be forced to resign; his mishandling of the mother and baby homes and the ongoing callousness shown to victims is one aspect. His wasting of public funds on free meals/laundry and pet care !!! for Ukrainian refugees who were already being housed for free and getting full social welfare and medical care, until end December 2022 cost the taxpayer in excess of €100 million. That money should have gone to the Magdalene’s or to carers.
O’Gormless should fall on his sword for overseeing this debacle, how out of touch do you have to be in this country to focus on a nothing burger referendum when the country is going to the dogs with more pressing issues around immigration, housing, keeping us out of EU wars etc. The problem is I thought 3 years ago SF would be a welcome vote to the never ending duopoly, they also bought into this guff and are now talking about another ref if they get power. You all lost, get over it and move on.
It’s clear that there is now only one real opposition and one real alternative to the present Government and it is not Sinn Fein. Aontu are the real opposition and the real alternative.
@Frank McGlynn: The only issue I have with Aontu is that they are anti-abortionists!
@Frank McGlynn: Aontu were born out of Sinn Fein over abortion differences
@Frank McGlynn: need a lot of current SF candidates to defect to Aontu.
@AphroBeat: what’s so fantastic about abortion even if you’re pro choice. Abortion is so awful for the women who have them and for the heartbeat that’s stopping and thrown in the waste
@James Casey: your a man your never gonna be a woman going through one.
Who says it’s awful for every woman? Have yoh been there for each woman going through one?
Some are relived when they get one so go away with yohr emotional language thinking you know all women’s experience .
It’s always the men shouting the loudest about it when they never have to go through with the risks of pregnancy.
When ya can squeeze a watermelon out of your p3n!s maybe ill take ya a bit more seriously .
@Marcus Maher – Triskellion Films:
You have a very valid point. The country is crying out for leadership. Politicians that will show regard to the public. Their job as public servants leaves alot to be desired? No transparency etc, etc.
@Frank McGlynn: Ya, lets vote in more religious nutjobs, because a century under the yoke of catholicism wasn’t enough fun what with all the rape, torture, censorship, embezzlement and theft. We can get all that, minus the rape, from FFG.
O Gorman is one of the reasons for the No vote. He’s pompous, arrogant and incompetent. He’s cost the country hundreds of millions through policy mismanagement and caused hurt both physical and mental to a lot of innocent people. If Roderick says Yes, it’s definitely a No.
O’Gorman needs to resign now or be told to leave. Zero credibility and a liability when it comes to protecting children
About time this Minister was shown up for what he is. Best thing he could do now is resign and let someone with a modicum of sense take over. Tired of looking and listening to him and his arrogance toward the electorate.
This man has destroyed Tourism along the entire Western Seaboard, upon which thousands depend on for their livelihood.
He has flooded the country with Asylum seekers arriving in record numbers, thanks to his worldwide tweet welcoming people to Ireland & promising them own door accommodation within months.
This guy needs to be removed ASAP, before the country implodes, the Referendum vote is a massive red flag, take heed & remove this guy asap
Politicians in Ireland don’t resign. They are far too arrogant and up themselves to do that.
@Andrew Harrington: They should be forced out by the people. Unbelievable at this stage. It’s incredible that a country doing so well from an economic perspective (not the government’s doing) , has a government that so hated an untrusted. They need to go.
He needs to resign over this debacle and the Mother and Baby Homes scandal too !
The big girl doesn’t have a clue
A lot of people including myself didn’t get a voting card and were refused the right to vote. Great result well done to all who voted no.
@Sandra Lysaght: need to check the Register of Elections BEFORE voting day not tant about it afterwards. Up to everyone to check of they are registered
@Peter Byrne: Really? I’ve confirmed a change of address with them online but still get my voting card sent to my previous. Another shower of uselees civil servants.
He would be sacked in any other job but not on the political gravy train
To paraphrase The Life of Brien… Welease Woderick should be the call. This man is unfit for public office. Leo the Leak can’t sack him given his own shady dealings with releasing information. A lot of TD s will lose their seats as a result of silently supporting these two.
The most useless of the tools.
Can O’Gorman say it in 5 languages
I voted Yes on family but the word “urgency” seems highly misplaced to me. The article has been in the Constitution since 1937 and though the language is archaic and the substance belongs to another time altogether, I don’t know if actually affects any women (or men) that much in their daily lives.
People who go on the Guardian or New York Times website and scroll down far enough to see the report on this story will read that Ireland comprehensively rejected an attempt to remove outdated language in our constitution that they would never have known existed in the first place, so it’s really a spectacular own goal by Rod and Leo.
My heart bleeds for him, and his cohorts. It’s high time for the people to have shown backbone, against this suit brigade that have no contact with the workers of the state. It’s like two different dimensions. That are called “rich and poor’.
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