Referendum result hasn’t settled debate on contentious issue By Maura Adshead

HERE’S one for the pub quiz.

How many referenda have there been since the foundation of the State? Aha, I hear you say: do you mean the number of days that we’ve gone out and voted on the constitution? Or do you mean the actual number of amendments? Or are you only referring to the amendments that were passed? Then the answer is 30, 34 or 25.

Maybe. I don’t know. I hate these kinds of questions. I hate even more that people think I ought to know this stuff. Do I look like a train spotter? Anyway, the answer is quite a lot, and certainly more than we’ve needed. After all, now that the last one is finally behind us, what did the result tell us — apart from the blindingly obvious — that we didn’t know already? For those returning from vacation on Mars: the blindingly obvious was that the answer was yes, and the turnout was low. The result was that the majority of those who voted, voted for something that the Government wanted, that all the main political parties wanted, and that they agreed with also. And no, I didn’t suggest that anyone was particularly happy or enthusiastic about this.