Minister Catherine Martin has been corrected in X’s Community Notes after she falsely claimed that Article 41.2 of the Irish Constitution says that a woman’s place is in the home. The Government wants to delete and replace the provision in a referendum on March 8.
The text says that the State shall “endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home”.
The correction points out that Supreme Court Judge Marie Baker, Chair of the Electoral Commission, has already stated that the Constitution does not say a woman’s place is in the home.
Justice Baker clarified that the Constitution says that mothers provide an “important support” to society and shouldn’t “have to go out to work” due to “economic necessity.”
This echoed previous remarks made by Supreme Court Justice Susan Denham in a case more than 20 years ago.
