The people of Ireland have had their first chance in four years to give their view as an electorate on the way they are being governed. This referendum result is their verdict on the political leadership class and it is a damning one.

Faced with secretly drawn-up proposals to…

— Senator Rónán Mullen (@RonanMullen) March 9, 2024

The people of Ireland have had their first chance in four years to give their view as an electorate on the way they are being governed. This referendum result is their verdict on the political leadership class and it is a damning one. 

Faced with secretly drawn-up proposals to dilute the significance of marriage for family life, and to dishonour women and motherhood by removing the only direct reference to their interests in Bunreacht na hEireann, and observing the ruthless way in which debate on these proposals was suppressed in the Dáil and Seanad, the people have – I think it is fair to say – snapped back. They weren’t confused. They knew what they were voting for. They didn’t like it. And they rejected it massively. The Irish people can be led. But they won’t be pushed. 

The arrogance, secrecy, insider-ism, and sometimes duplicity, that characterised the selling of the so-called ‘Family’ and ‘Care’ referendums, not just by the Government and their allies in State-funded NGOs but also by the main opposition parties, Sinn Féin and the parties of the Left, has got the response it deserved. This arrogancy and insider-ism has characteristed the Government’s handling of a whole range of issues in recent years – from aspects of public health management during the pandemic, to controversies in recent times around migration and gender and the pushing of ideology at children in schools. In all these areas, we see a Government that seems to be in a propaganda war against its own people, unwilling to face up to or even acknowledge the existence of hard questions, mainly backed up by opposition parties who largely share their point of view that the people are not to be trusted, and a media that seems too often worried about biting the hand that feeds it. 

The result is a loss of faith among many ordinary people in our democratic institutions. And to the rise of the citizen journalist and the citizen politician. Because the people do not want faceless people, with names we don’t know and no accountability to us, shaping our destiny. 

Today we see a resounding defeat for the Government, Sinn Féin and other parties (with the honourable exception of Aontú). There are lessons to be learned: