Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses how referenda in Ireland (popular votes to alter Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Constitution) shape and are shaped by profound social changes over recent decades, particularly in relation to reproductive rights, gender and sexuality, and the family.

Paper long abstract:

Ireland is known for its progressive referenda in recent years, legalising abortion and equal marriage. These have reflected (and shaped) major social and political changes within the 26 counties, as society has broadly shifted from a state of Catholic quasi-theocracy, with concomitant amendments to Bunreacht na hÉireann, its Constitution. Referenda are thus relatively common in Ireland and a familiar mechanism of popular political participation. Many of these referenda have, unsurprisingly, involved political controversy and disagreement, including the 2009 referendum to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, which was run twice - the second time in order to provide the "correct" result.

This paper examines the referenda on equal marriage and abortion, as well as the discourse around the (at time of writing) upcoming referenda on March 8th, 2024 (International Women's Day), to delete Article 41.2 from Bunreacht na hÉireann - Ireland's "women in the home" clause, and to amend Article 41, on the family. These referenda have also been controversial, in part due to the temerity of lawmakers to discuss and define the terms "woman" and "family," as transphobic rhetoric becomes normalised in a time of global shifts to the right and an ever more toxic social media landscape. As a tool of political participation in a representative democracy, with its own idiosyncratic norms and attempts at democratisation (e.g. that "both sides" be given equal airtime in public debates), this paper argues that referenda in Ireland can be thought of as both enacting and reflecting social life in Ireland.