Child and family support organisation Treoir has said a “Yes-Yes” vote in the forthcoming referendums will give hundreds of thousands of people in the State who live in non-marital families constitutional recognition for the first time.
Treoir, the national information service for unmarried parents, said there are 75,000 cohabiting couples with children, and that 18 per cent of families are one-parent families. There are an additional 150,000 cohabiting couples without children.
Some 40 per cent of births are now outside of marriage, and 40 per cent of families are non-marital, he added.
The Constitution says the State “recognises the family as the national primary and fundamental unit group of society”. In Article 41.3.1 it adds that the “institution of marriage” is the basis on which the “family is founded”.
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The Government is proposing to expand the definition of the family to include the words “whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships” in Article 41.1.
[ Who’s who? The Yes and No camps in the March 8th family and care referendumsOpens in new window ]
It also proposes to delete the provision which states that a woman, “by her life within the home, gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved”.
It will be replaced with a provision which recognises carers within the family unit.
Treoir is one of a number of non-government organisations (NGOs) campaigning together on the same platform for a Yes-Yes vote. The group also includes the National Women’s Council of Ireland, One Family, Family Carers Ireland and Independent Living Movement Ireland.
Treoir chief executive Damien Peelo said the proposed new wording will allow thousands of children to be recognised constitutionally as being within a family unit.
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“If both votes are carried there will still be a lot of work needed to implement better equality, but we believe the State would be in a better position to do so, as it would be embedded in the Constitution, together with a public mandate to prioritise diversity in Irish family life and care,” he said.
“Cohabiting couples with or without children and lone-parent families would have constitutional acknowledgment as a family unit. Also, fathers and kinship carers would be protected in the role they play in care in the family.”
Mr Peelo added that acceptance would also help to destigmatise one-parent families.
The launch was attended by a number of people from different family arrangements.
Single mother Gayle Smith said the Constitution as it stands stigmatises families such as hers. “Every child deserves to be treated equally, and so do their families,” she said.
Sheila Duffy, a mother in a cohabiting couple, said she was forced to sell their family home because she had no access to the pension of her partner of 35 years because they were not married.
John O’Meara, who recently won a case in the Supreme Court for cohabiting couples with children to be entitled to the widow/widower’s pension, urged citizens to vote Yes in both instances.
“These referendums are about being treated equally, as the State still treats families unequally. There is a massive gap for cohabiting couples and lone parents, and they need protection. The referendum is also really important for women.”
Treoir hosts two other programmes, Kinship Care Ireland and Teen Parent Support Programme, which are also campaigning for a Yes-Yes as they see such outcomes as promoting greater equality for all families.
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