The high levels of uncertainty among the electorate over the intentions behind next month’s referendums on family and care can be successfully addressed between now and polling day, the chairwoman and chief executive of the Electoral Commission have said.
The commission is to spend about €3 million on promoting engagement with the referendums and explaining the issues involved. Its chairwoman, Ms Justice Marie Baker, and chief executive, Art O’Leary, got a sense of the task involved at Ballyhaise Agricultural College in Co Cavan on Thursday as they addressed about 70 staff and first year students.
In referendums to take place on March 8th, the Government proposes expanding the definition of family in the Constitution to recognise “durable relationships”, such as cohabiting couples and their children, and replacing the language around “women in the home” with language recognising care within families.
Asked who was registered to vote, fewer than half said they were, with barely more than a handful saying they intended at this stage to cast ballots.
Ms Justice Baker acknowledged the numbers were disappointing, but said she expected levels of engagement would increase substantially over the coming weeks, as the commission’s campaign gathered momentum. It will include the delivery of explanatory literature along with traditional and social media advertising campaigns.
Referring to the phrase “durable relationship” in the family referendum, she suggested it seemed a logical process for the wording to contain a term that could be legislated for by the Oireachtas and then interpreted by the courts.
She said the Taoiseach had this week given an indication of the types of relationships he envisaged being legislated for and she pointed to the Supreme Court case last month involving John O’Meara, who had sought a widower’s pension after his long-term partner had died, as a perfect example of the sort of personal circumstances the referendum dealt with.
“The Taoiseach said it will be one-parent families, like Mr O’Meara, cohabiting couples, grandparents heading up families, that sort of thing.”
She said it was not her role or that of the commission to take a view on what way people should vote but said she hoped it would be “regarded as a serious source, a serious and trusted, independent source of information that people can safely come to”.
Addressing the students, Mr O’Leary raised the issue of online misinformation and said the reality was that during election campaigns they needed to treat every day as if it were April Fool’s day. “We urge you to check whatever you are reading,” he said.
Afterwards, he said there was little evidence to date of online mis- or disinformation intended to influence the electoral process in Ireland but a recent international study had shown that 92 per cent of 53 election campaigns reviewed had shown elements of online misinformation.
“Ireland wasn’t one of those countries but there is no reason to think it will remain immune to the problem.”
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