Ireland Referendums 2024: Presbyterian Church in Ireland question moves to update Irish constitution’s definition of family and role of women

At present the Irish constitution says in Article 41 that the state "guarantees to protect the family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the nation and the state".

"In particular, the state recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the state support without which the common good cannot be achieved.

"The state shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.

"The state pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the family is founded, and to protect it against attack."

The proposed changes would expand the definition of a family by putting "other durable relationship" on an equal footing to marriage, thereby qualifying them for equal state support.

The changes would also remove the reference to the role of women in fulfilling their duties in the home as providing critical support to the state.

This will be replaced by gender neutral wording which states that any member of a family can fulfill the supportive role.

Announcing the referendums, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said families may be “founded on lasting relationships other than marriage”.

He added: "For example, a family headed by a lone parent, or a family headed by a grandparent or guardian all of us know people who are committed to each other in a loving relationship over a sustained period of time, who are not married.”

However, in a letter to its ministers and congregations across the Republic of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) outlined its view of the proposed changes.

The Convener of PCI’s Council for Public Affairs, Rev Daniel Kane (from Ballymena), and the Convener of the Council’s Republic of Ireland Panel, Rev William Hayes (from Tullamore in County Offaly), said they recognised that in a changing society there are "a great many other households that count as families".

However they were "disappointed” that the proposed amendment “seeks to remove the link between marriage and family".

There had been significant debate about adding the phrase "other durable relationships" to the constitution as "a new way to define ‘family" they said.

And they were therefore "not alone in foreseeing major problems that will arise from the lack of clarity surrounding this new definition".

The biblical role of women is "much greater and more varied" than was “controversially” defined in the Irish constitution 90 years ago, they added.

However the church still recognises "the pivotal role that mothers have in nurturing and bringing up children'' they said, and deleting all reference to this "may unintentionally devalue their pivotal role to the detriment of society".

They were also concerned that the new constitution would therefore fail to provide any recognition for the role of "parents" in raising children, adding that they "would like to see the relationship between a child and their parent/s affirmed".