David Quinn was on The Hard Shoulder yesterday to outline the concerns of the Iona Institute about the upcoming referendums in March about the family and carers. The first one is set to further downgrade the importance of marriage to society, and the second deletes the requirement that mothers not be forced out of the home because of economic necessity.

He questions why in the case of the proposed referendums on carers, mention of the home is no longer in the English-language version and all reference to protecting the home is gone. He said most Irish people still value the home more than the workplace. He added that the Government could have made its proposed new wording gender-neutral in language but retained the commitment to protecting the home.

With respect to the proposed referendum on the family, he said it will further downgrade the importance of marriage to society and said that any sensible society should want as many children as possible raised by the men and women who bring them into the world, as least as a first aim, and the Government seems to have lost sight of this.

The item can be found here, while the wording the proposed new amendments can be found here.