Taoiseach warns some will 'misinterpret' referendum on family and marriage

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted the Government had come up against difficulties in agreeing the wording of a referendum to take what has been described as sexist and outdated language out of the Constitution.

Some people will try to "misinterpret" a referendum to remove the reference to the family being founded on marriage as well as sexist language around women in the home, the Taoiseach has warned.

Leo Varadkar said family and marriage should be protected in the Constitution, but the two should not be linked as this does not reflect modern Ireland.

"I have a fear that people will misinterpret us as trying to delete the family or to delete marriage when actually the Constitution protects marriage and the family, but it's the linking of the two that is something that we think should change," he said.

Mr Varadkar said he was conscious that referendums can "go wrong" and the Government must ensure the wording of any question posed in a referendum was right.

The Taoiseach admitted the Government had come up against difficulties in agreeing the wording of a referendum to take what has been described as sexist and outdated language out of the Constitution, but insisted a vote would still take place in November.

It comes after a number of ministers raised warnings it was now “not realistic” to hold a referendum in such a short time, given the issues that still had to be worked through.

Amending Article 41.2 of the Constitution has been long discussed and was in the recommendations made by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality.

The group also found Article 41.3 contains the phrase "marriage, on which the family is founded" should be changed to protect all family life and should not be limited to the marital family.

"We have had some difficulty agreeing on the wording," Mr Varadkar said, adding the referendum would focus on two areas — the reference to women in the home and the linking of marriage and the family in the Constitution.

There's the wording in the Constitution that says the family is founded on marriage and marriage alone. I think we all agree that in the modern world, there are lots of families that are not married families: families led by grandparents; families led by couples that aren't married; one-parent families.

"But we need to make sure that we get that wording right and people don't misinterpret it."

Mr Varadkar told reporters a simple removal of the reference to women in the home would be straightforward, however, the Government wants to instead replace this wording with a clause to recognise all those who have a caring role.

"In relation to replacing the old-fashioned wording around the role of women in the home with something affirmative, deletion is easy, but we want to replace it with something affirmative, which recognises the value of care in the home, again we just need to get that right.

He added: "Once you put wording in the Constitution, you know, it's the courts that decide what it means, not people who get elected by the people. So we just need to make sure we get the wording right. But we're going to do it and the intention is still to do by the end of November."