Replacing the ‘women in the home’ provision in the Constitution with a broad reference to all carers could lead to a spate of compensation claims against the State, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

A coalition of 50 groups is calling on the next government to hold a Referendum on repealing the 8th Amendment.

Article 41.2 of the Irish constitution declares that the State recognises the mother’s position within the home and “therefore endeavours to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”