Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 February 2024
540. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will consider deferring the forthcoming referenda on family and care to permit further and better debate and discussion on the subject matter in view of the very short timeframe allowed for debate. [6468/24]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, efforts within the Oireachtas to amend the Constitution to address the sexist wording contained within Article 41 go back to at least 1996, through the then Constitutional Review Group.
In terms of the present proposals, the Deputy will also recall that the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality was established almost five years ago and its 100 members, over the course of 10 plenary meetings between January 2020 and April 2021, discussed in detail a very broad range of matters and considered 246 published submissions. As part of this process, the Citizens' Assembly devoted a considerable amount of time to the matter of Article 41 wording and other constitutional matters. The ultimate report of the Citizens' Assembly contained 45 recommendations, including recommendations for constitutional change.
Following publication of the Citizens' Assembly report, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality met from March - December 2022 to consider the recommendations, as the Deputy will be very much aware from her membership of the committee. The committee met 23 times and, in addition to its final report, published an interim report specifically focused on constitutional change.
Following this, the Government, over the period from March - December 2023, considered recommendations for constitutional change very carefully and ultimately brought forward the legislation permitting the holding of two referendums - the thirty ninth amendment and the fortieth amendment of the Constitution - to finally put to the people proposals to remove outdated, sexist language and modernise references to the Family and care.
Furthermore, the polling orders have now been signed by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Electoral Commission has commenced its public information campaign, with printed materials being distributed to all 1.8 million households in the State, ballot papers and polling cards are being printed for the entire electorate, and voting and counting arrangements are being made at centres all over the country
