Politics

‘We didn’t do our job well enough’: Minister of State criticises colleagues over referendum campaign

Michael McNamara says no votes in family and care referendums cast Irish parliament in ‘a very dim light’

The Government could have done more to get behind the family and care referendum campaigns, Fianna Fáil TD Mary Butler has said. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Colin Gleeson
Jack Horgan-Jones
Sun Mar 10 2024 - 15:19

The Government could have done more to get behind the family and care referendum campaigns, Fianna Fáil TD Mary Butler has said, criticising her colleagues across all three parties.

Two referendums on the definition of family and the role of care were comprehensively defeated on Saturday, as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted the Government failed to convince the public and was given “two wallops” by the electorate.

The referendum on family – which proposed extending the definition of family to those based on durable relationships as well as those based on marriage – was defeated with 67.69 per cent voting No.

The referendum on care – which proposed deleting the reference to a woman’s life in the home and a mother’s duties in the home and replacing it with a recognition of care within the family – was also heavily defeated, with 73.9 per cent voting No.

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[ How Ireland voted: Constituency-by-constituency breakdown of the results in both referendums ]

Speaking to RTÉ's This Week programme on Sunday, Minister of State for older people Ms Butler said: “I would have to be straight and say not everybody got behind this across government, I’ll be very clear about that, some people didn’t and that was their own reasoning.”

“I do believe if I’ve to be truly honest, that we could have done more, and we didn’t.”

She said she was referring to colleagues across all three parties. She said voters “gave us a kicking” yesterday.

Ms Butler said that the Government’s “explanations didn’t meet the threshold of certainty for many people and we have to take ownership of this”.

She said the blame “has to lie squarely with us as a government, that we didn’t do our job well enough”.

Ms Butler said the leaking of the Attorney General’s advice to The Ditch website was a “huge concern”, saying it was “absolutely scandalous” leak and suggesting a moratorium on social media should be considered.

Meanwhile, Independent TD Michael McNamara, who advocated for No votes in both referendums, said the votes “cast a very dim light on how the Dáil operates”.

“We’ve all these referendums about the Constitution but arguably the Dáil does not fulfil the role assigned to it in the Constitution,” he said on The Week on Politics on RTÉ.

“Michael Collins, myself, and others tried to call a vote on the wording of this. We didn’t get the numbers. You need 10 people to call a vote.

“Sinn Féin didn’t support even the right to have a vote on this. It was guillotined. That’s something the Government abuse their majority to do. They are threatening to do the same now with a huge planning Bill.”

“Everything comes down to party lines and confrontation rather than actually teasing out legislation and wording, of anything. That’s a problem for our democracy,” he said.

Speaking on the same programme, Green Party senator Pippa Hackett said the votes represented “a failure on behalf of the wider Yes campaign” and admitted the Government “is front-row centre in that”, but she denied arrogance played a role.

“There was a Citizens’ Assembly on this. We didn’t ignore them. The joint Oireachtas committee on gender equality amended some of the recommendations. There were three Sinn Féin members on that committee. This was a consensus.”

Responding to questions on the leak of the attorney general’s advice to the Ditch website, Ms Hackett denied it had come from the Green Party. “It absolutely wasn’t a stunt from the Green Party,” she said. “We have no idea where the leak came from. That isn’t the way to do business.”

Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane admitted her party “called it wrong”. She said: “You have to be big enough to say that. The Government chose the wording. It was their referendum. They chose not to allow pre-legislative scrutiny, which we sought.”

Asked whether her party leader Mary Lou McDonald was now rowing back on a commitment to re-run the referendums, Ms Kerrane declined to offer a clear answer.

“You would never re-run the wording of these referendums ever again,” she said. “The people have spoken and they have to be listened to. The language that is there will obviously remain in the Constitution because the people have spoken.”

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times

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