The Taoiseach has said the referendums on Family and Care are in the balance ahead of polling day on Friday.
Leo Varadkar again called for a double yes vote in the referendums, saying it would help create an inclusive and caring society for future generations.
Speaking during a canvass in Ranelagh, he said the referendums are about recognising that all families are equal as well as giving special recognition to family carers for the first time.
Mr Varadkar said it is often only in the final days of a referendum campaign that people engage with the issues.
Mr Varadkar said that the Constitution is not just a legal document but a statement of values.
Taoiseach says the referendums are in the balance but on a canvass of Ranelagh in Dublin, he predicts the boxes here will be "good" for a yes vote. pic.twitter.com/ZTQew13yS9
— Mícheál Lehane (@MichealLehane) March 4, 2024
The Taoiseach said that by voting yes in the Family referendum, the State would recognise diverse family structures - co-habiting couples, grandparents raising grandchildren, one parent families - as real families.
It is a declaration that every person and every form of family deserves recognition, he said.
Mr Varadkar added that a yes vote in the Care referendum would make it clear that family care is not just the work of women or mothers, it should be shared by fathers and sons and that the State should do more to support it.
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However, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said support for the referendums is falling.
Mr Tóibín said people are studying the contents of the referendum proposals and they do not like what they see.
He said he believes no one knows what a durable relationship is and what consequences it would have on wills, tax, social welfare and immigration.
The Meath West TD said the Care referendum was a slap in the face to carers as the Government sought to insulate itself from its responsibility to support carers and those in need of care.
Referendums 'missed opportunity' - Presbyterian Church
Meanwhile, leaders of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland have described the upcoming referendums as "a missed opportunity".
In a letter to Ministers and Congregations, the Convener of PCI's Council for Public Affairs, Rev Daniel Kane, and the Convener of the Council’s Republic of Ireland Panel, Rev William Hayes, said the "ambiguity and lack of clarity" contained within some of the amendments would mean that "it is unlikely to introduce meaningful change, which could have been of benefit to society as a whole".
They have described the proposed amendment seeking to remove the link between marriage and family as disappointing but acknowledged it is "an indication of Ireland’s changing culture".
There is a clearly defined definition of marriage in the Presbyterian Church according to Mr Kane, who is the minister of the West Presbyterian Church in Ballymena, Co Antrim and Mr Hayes, who is the minister of Tullamore Presbyterian Church in Co Offaly.
While they recognised that "there are a great many other households and families, which are not founded on our view of marriage…we would want to hold to the biblical definition of marriage, as God’s intended design for society", they said.
The Presbyterian ministers noted the suggestion to amend the wording of Article 41.3.1, to include the term "other durable relationships".
"We recognise that there is significant debate around this term as a new way to define ‘family’, which considerably widens its definition.
"Given this, we are not alone in foreseeing major problems that will arise from the lack of clarity surrounding this new definition and interpretation of ‘durable relationships’ in the proposed new text," they added.
On the position of women and mothers in the home, the ministers said the Bible teaches that the role of women "is much greater and more varied than that defined in Article 41.2.1" and that it extends beyond a woman’s role within the home.
They said the picture of the wife "of noble character" found in Proverbs 31, for example, "praises and encourages many different roles that women can fulfil both inside and outside the home".
"While we recognise and affirm the pivotal role that mothers have in nurturing and bringing up children, we are, however, concerned that the deletion of this Article may unintentionally devalue their pivotal role to the determent of society," they said.
The ministers' view the removal of the words "economic" and "labour" from the second part of the Article 41.2.2, to be replaced by the general concept of "support", moves society in a direction that "fails to recognise the economic, as well as the social value of parents (mothers and fathers), who have the ability to stay at home with their children during their formative years".
They have expressed concern that without the inclusion of a reference to parents, this would undermine "the significant role that they have in a child’s life".
The two ministers concluded their letter by stating that while the Presbyterian Church embraces democracy as part of its ethos, these are matters for the people to decide.
They have encouraged members to vote and consider the matters "prayerfully and with great care", reminding themselves of the words of the Westminster Confession that "God alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to His Word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship".
Additional reporting Ailbhe Conneely
