‘No’ result must be respected

The final count on the household tax is in last Tuesday’s post. The majority of Irish households voted “No”.

This was a referendum, not officially sanctioned by government but a referendum all the same. It was a referendum because the people decided to make it so, to take the household tax issue, consider it, debate it and decide it among themselves. And it was appropriate that it be decided in this way because government had crossed a line. It had literally stepped over the threshold of our homes. If Minister Hogan is struggling to understand what happened, he need only ask Enda Kenny, who told the Dáil 15 years ago, “It is morally wrong, unjust and unfair to tax a person’s home.”

There is a central principle in natural law which is fundamental to the Irish Constitution, that every person has an innate dignity and that government exists to guarantee that dignity. In order to live our dignity, we must have the things essential to our human nature.