The landslide defeat of the government’s referendum is a massive blow to their prestige and legitimacy. They ignored the citizens’ assembly, refused to take the opposition’s (including People Before Profit) suggestions on the wording into account, took the population for granted, and ran a weak campaign. Most people do not trust them, and many despise them. They are a cobbled-together coalition to maintain the domination of FF and FG. Few people wanted a government led by Leo Varadkar or Micheal Martin. The referendum vote was the clearest sign yet that most people are sick of them.
The referendum also represents the close of an era when the two conservative parties tried to re-furbish their image to look ‘progressive’. This always stood in direct contradiction to their denial of social rights. They wanted to jettison articles in the constitution written by the right-wing Bishop John Charles McQuaid but replace them with vacuous words that gave no guarantee of social care, especially outside the family. They thought that a little bit of verbal tokenism would set them up before the next election as slightly liberal and ‘progressive’. But many saw through it – especially when Varadkar appeared on television to deny the state had responsibility for social care.
Some will claim that the strong working-class vote for NO shows an innate conservatism. But working-class people voted overwhelmingly for marriage equality and a woman’s right to choose. The voted to give specific and positive rights to women and the LGBTQ+ community. Those victories came off the back of mass social movements. This referendum had nothing of the sort and was a stale top-down exercise.
The claim also misunderstands the role of the family in working-class households. In a neoliberal society where there is little support, the family can provide a space for solidarity. Most people want a widening of that solidarity so that the state – and this is contrary to McQuaid and Varadkar – provides real support. But when every change is tangled with the possibility of more insecurity, they recoil and reject it. And that is precisely what people suspected this government of.
If there was a government that guaranteed social care for the elderly – rather than running down the public nursing homes and not providing any appropriate public care for younger disabled people – or one that provided free creches or built enough social homes, then people would understand that care does not have to depend on a woman in the home.
This referendum put left-wing people in an impossible situation. Most people agree that the language around women in the Constitution is sexist and outdated. However, the best chance of actually winning was to remove the sexist language and to make it clear the state would take responsibility for care.
People Before Profit made this argument and put in the amendments to secure it but the government refused to listen. They left us with two bad options. Remove the sexist language but confirm that care must be the responsibility of the family or keep the sexist language in and embolden conservative forces in the church and on the right. Marginally we chose to remove the sexist language and continue to fight for more care and equality but this was a difficult call and we recognised the severe limitations of the choices on offer. Many of our own supporters adopted a Yes-No position and this was reflected in an exit poll.
The one positive aspect of this referendum was that it opened a real conversation about the lack of social care in Irish society. That needs to be built on. We need a movement that unites carers and disability activists that puts real pressure on the government to fight for real change. People Before Profit is committed to building such a movement.
But there is also a dark side to the referendum which the left should not ignore. It brought to the fore right-wing elements who want to import Trump-style politics to Ireland.
Michael McDowell, for example, has spent decades trying to develop a politics that combines free market economics with conservative Catholic and anti-immigration values. While Minister for Justice he refused to change legislation that made it legal for Catholic-run schools to sack gay teachers. At the same time, he supported the co-location of private hospitals alongside public ones to ensure that the rich got better health treatment than the poor. McDowell will use the referendum to renew this political agenda -and will have little problem consorting with elements of the far right.
The far right and those clamouring for a return of Catholic Church power will try to use government ineptitude and anti-establishment mood in the country to rehabilitate their conservative vision for Ireland. They won a victory of sorts yesterday. FF-FG strategy of piecemeal reform and superficial ‘liberalisation’ is dead. Irish workers are not clamouring for a return to Catholic Ireland. But they want real change, not just a change in words from the government,
The lesson of the referendum is that any campaign to reform Ireland that is tied to FF-FG will not enthuse ordinary workers and will leave the ‘anti-establishment’ space open to fringe, far right elements otherwise devoid of a mass base.
In the coming months before the local elections and European elections, People Before Profit will be offering a different alternative. One that takes the anger in Irish society and throws it back on the rich and their political elite. We want to work with disabled and carer organisations to pursue the fight for real changes that starts to give social rights. We want to see a return to mass movements that challenge this government, particularly on housing. And we want a left government that makes a real break with FF and FG.