Irish government concedes defeat in referendums

Ireland’s government has conceded defeat in the nation’s referendums on modernising its constitution. The campaign sparked debate over the meaning of family and the role of women in the home. One referendum was to try and expand the definition of family as being founded on marriage to “durable relationships” – a vague term that many lawyers criticised. The ‘Women in the Home’ referendum – which grabbed a lot of international headlines – was to replace old-fashioned language around a mother’s duties within the home with a clause recognising care provided by family members to one another. “I think it’s clear at this stage, that the family amendment and the care amendment referendums have been defeated,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.