Referendum!

[springbrigid]

Anyone inclined to give an opinion? I am leaning towards a yes/no vote, the yes to remove what I see as sexist language in the constitution, the no because the government are so appalling in terms of providing services and rights to disabled citizens and I feel the clause is paternalistic and pushes care on families yet again

Very slow, struggling to get to double digits in some areas.

Really hope it picks up after 5..

Yes & he looks well too.

It is alright. Some places really low.

And the government are trying to say the vote has nothing to do with Trans. Read this letter from Labours Bernie Linnane which very pointedly is saying vote Yes for trans rights.

In what way does he think that the constitution "defines" women?

He 🤣

I think No are going to win as the day goes on.
Tomorrow night the headlines will be as follows
"Far right rig the election"
or
"Far right misinformation smears Yes campaign"
🤣🤣🤣

I'm fairly confident that the care one won't pass. I'm 50/50 if the family one will pass, could go either way but no has come a long way since the campaign started.

Can you imagine the amount of opinion pieces we'll get about how Ireland hates women.

There will be no introspection by the Government about how they got the wording wrong or misspent money or how awful every Government minister was in debates on this, I'm sure they will just blame everything on the bogeyman that is the "rise of the far right"

@miri1985 it's already started on twitter. TDs retweeing to the effect "not to waste your vote with anti government sentiment but to vote progressively"

Many were undecided still at the start of the week but the very strong showing from the No side during the live debates swayed many.
The Ditches revelations last night would have had a massive impact if they were released earlier in the week.

But if there is a No result the only thing certain is that "far right misinformation" is the blame 🤣

Voted No No around midday. Fairly busy. Some of the TRAs who booted me from a chat group for defending JKR are voting Yes/No and one is voting No/No. Wonders will never cease.

DH & I voted before 8am this morning, we were the only ones there!

I call a Yes/No which will make me sad.

Am dreading a GE I have absolutely no idea who I'd vote for. But at the same time, I think we desperately need one. We need a reset. I'm not hopeful...

The Greens latest tweet. They are worried about the anti government vote.. I wonder why!

I voted early. I had to take the day off as school was closed for voting, but I wanted to make sure I got my vote in to free up my day off with DC.

Interestingly I noticed Panti seems to be lobbying for a yes/no recently. He wants No to care

Absolutely this. Many polling stations aren’t wheelchair accessible by the way so if you can encourage people to vote, do!

And please be respectful here or in person to people who vote differently to you. It doesn’t mean they’re wrong, just they’ve come to different conclusions than you.

There’s a lot of emotion and lived experience informing this vote seeing as it’s focussed on the family section of the constitution and everyone has such a different perspective on what family means, what home means and what care means. So maybe give eye rolls and accusations about voters’ motivations a rest (not directed at you @Dublincailin, just some of the tone on this thread is pretty inflammatory). It’s a democratic process after all

Could not believe just how many are inaccessible when I read the Orla Tinsley article this week, its an absolute disgrace https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/orla-tinsley-care-referendum-vote-no-6318809-Mar2024/
"According to the National Disability Authority, 29 buildings servicing 43 polling stations were not accessible to wheelchair users during the 2020 General Election."

I assume as well that if you are assigned a non accessible polling place that there is nothing on your voting card to tell you this. Cannot believe this is still happening in Ireland in 2024

They could have used all the money they spent on this nonsense referendum to make buildings and towns more accessible to disabled people.

Is there an option for a postal vote for those people who cannot access the polling station? That seems crazy!

Again Leo showing how he feels he's above the law by canvassing immediately after casting his vote this morning!

Maybe he's sufficiently far from the door or something? But he is that arrogant that rule breaking wouldn't surprise me either.

@DanielGault desperate times call for desperate measures 😂

The bookies are all calling sizable victories for the the No side. They are never far off the mark in these things.

I lived in England for 30 years with no time off for good behaviour. Occasionally there would be an newspaper article or TV documentary that did not present Irish people as stupid, violent drunks. Or mindless devotees of an archaic religion. Or both. On such occasions I would be pathetically grateful.

But now I couldn't give a tuppeny f*ck what these scribblers think. From great intellectuals like Greer to spoofers like Owen Jones. How the mighty are fallen. No doubt they will roll out the ' Irish people obey the bishops' bollox one last time.

They're usually right alright. Well, they deserve no better than to lose both given the slapdash nature of their campaign. It was like informing the public/debate was a complete afterthought.

Hear hear to all of this, down to the almost 30 years!

I will refrain from any comments about what rich insights the last UK referendum brought.