Roderic O'Gorman says yes vote will ‘strengthen hand’ over care supports

Roderic O'Gorman criticised the vote no campaign saying he does not understand how anyone is 'comfortable with excluding' one-parent families from the Constitution. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Minister Roderic O’Gorman has said a win in the upcoming referendum will “strengthen the hand” of ministers at budget negotiations to financially support carers.

Mr O’Gorman has also criticised the vote no campaign saying he does not understand how anyone in 2024 is “comfortable with excluding” one-parent families from the Constitution.

On the subject of why the State did not go further with its wording on the care amendment, Mr O’Gorman told the Irish Examiner there has to be a recognition that it needs to be done “progressively”.

The country goes to the polls on Friday with a degree of anxiety within Government about voter turnout and the possibility the referendums will be rejected.

Mr O’Gorman said the Government wants to place a greater onus on the State to do more in supporting care.

Some representative groups have argued that the Government has not gone far enough with its wording on the care amendment, which proposes that the State has an obligation to “strive to support”.

However, Mr O’Gorman said the word ‘shall’ is a “directive legal word”.

“There has to be recognition, and I say this as disability minister — we cannot completely fix every gap in our care system right now.  

“No one government can make every improvement that’s needed in care at the one time,” he said. “It has to be something that’s done progressively.”

Mr O’Gorman said one of the key advantages of placing an obligation on the State to strive to support care is that it “strengthens the hands” of Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys, his own, and those of future ministers at budget time to “make the case that the people have now placed a new obligation on the State to support care, and that will strengthen the hands of whoever is the minister in budget negotiations”.

Acknowledging that people will continue to have to go to court to fight for their rights, Mr O’Gorman said if the care amendment is passed, when people go to court, they will be able to cite that the Constitution outlines that the State has to strive to support care and argue that this has not been done in their situation.

Mr O’Gorman said short-term casual relationships or those between friends and siblings would not be considered durable. He said the term will include one-parent families and couples living together for long periods, with or without children.

Mr O’Gorman said those campaigning for a no vote are focusing “on the process, rather than explaining why they believe unmarried families, one-parent families should be excluded from our Constitution”.

“I’d love to get a straight answer from someone on that,” he said. “I do not understand how in 2024, anyone is comfortable with excluding a one-parent family from the definition of our other family within our Constitution.

“When we look at the treatment of women, the treatment of women who had children outside of pregnancy in the decades that have gone past, I don’t know how anyone can comfortably say, let’s maintain the status quo,” he said.