Referendums on Family, Care and Gender Equality – request for submissions

Please note, the closing date for receipt of submissions has been extended until 12pm on Friday 19th May 2023.

On 8 March 2023, the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, announced the Government’s intention to hold one or more referendums to respond to the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality and the Special Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality.

An Inter-Departmental Committee, chaired by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, has been established to further examine and advance these recommendations, and to support the Government in the development of policy proposals.

As part of its work, the Inter-Departmental Committee is now inviting submissions on the issue from interested parties.

Submissions can be sent by email to genderequality@equality.gov.ie, with the subject line ‘Submission – Referendum’.

The closing date for receipt of submissions is 12pm on Friday 19 May 2023.

All submissions submitted to the Department are subject to release under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014, are also subject to Data Protection legislation, and may be published once the consultation has concluded.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality, responding to the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality, recommended that a referendum or referendums be held:

1. to insert a gender equality and non-discrimination principle into Article 40.1;

2. to remove the ‘women in the home’ reference in Article 41.2 of the Constitution and to replace it with language that is not gender specific, and which provides recognition for care; and

3. to amend Article 41 to protect family life, with the protection afforded to the family not limited to the marital family.