Terry Prone: People were not confused about the referenda — they just didn't want them

We kept being told that anything practical, emerging from either referendum would emerge from subsequent legislation and litigation — so why go through the referendum ritual in the first place?

Leo Varadkar at Dublin Castle for the referenda on family and care. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Nobody needs a pasta maker. That’s one of life’s eternal verities. Coming up to Mothers Day, some offspring will, out of desperation and shortage of alternatives, buy their mother a pasta maker. Their mother will let on to be grateful, pretend to be interested. In a matter of weeks, the gadget will be at the back of a cupboard and in a matter of months will quietly be consigned to a charity shop.

Same with these referenda. They were the pasta makers of the democratic system. Nobody needed them.