Ms Emily Logan:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for its invitation to appear. I am accompanied by my fellow commissioners, Professor Siobhán Mullally and Mr. Frank Conaty. We welcome the opportunity to share the views of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission on this important matter.

The commission is Ireland’s national human rights institution and equality body. It was established in 2014 with full institutional independence and a range of statutory powers for which we account directly to the Oireachtas. A further aspect of the commission’s statutory duty is to keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of law and practice in the State relating to the protection of human rights and equality and to make recommendations on measures to strengthen, protect and uphold human rights and equality in the State.

It is in this context that the commission prepared its paper on Article 41.2 of Bunreacht na hÉireann in June this year, which has been circulated to committee members. We had a formal meeting with both the Ministers for Justice and Equality and Employment Affairs and Social Protection on 2 July. The Ministers were presented with this paper in advance of that meeting.

The question of advancing gender equality in the State has been a particular focus of the commission since our establishment in 2014. The commission has repeatedly raised concerns that in its current format, Article 41.2 perpetuates stereotypical attitudes towards women and their role in society and embeds a value system in our constitutional framework that serves to undermine gender equality. This is no surprise to this committee. In the context of the meeting with the Ministers for Justice and Equality and Employment Affairs and Social Protection, it was made clear by the commission that it did not support the Government's current approach to the constitutional change.

The commission is also of the view that Article 41.2 is not compatible with Ireland’s international human rights obligations. There have been repeated calls by United Nations, UN, treaty monitoring bodies for Ireland to remove or amend the provision, most recently by the UN committee on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, which last year urged Ireland to remove the stereotypical language on the role of women in the home from the Constitution.

In approaching how we may address the gender stereotyping currently enshrined in the Constitution, it is important to bear in mind that this debate is not taking place in isolation. It is part of a critical consideration of how the State defines, recognises and supports the term used in Article 41.2, which is "the public good". This includes the debate about the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, including in the Constitution.

In the context of the meeting with the Ministers for Justice and Equality and Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the issue of a deliberative process was discussed, with the commission open to the idea of a deliberative process to consider more broadly the debate that needs to be had.

Article 41.2 is at the heart of this discussion of public good. It has at its core, a recognition of what former Chief Justice, Ms Justice Denham, called an immense benefit for society, that is work in the home, or what we may wish today to more widely understand as care work both in the home and beyond. The article’s assumptions of who carries out this work and where, and what this work entails, may be outmoded but at its heart is a clear recognition of that public good. The commission, therefore, believes that amending Article 41.2 to render it gender neutral and wider in scope rather than deleting it is a means towards preserving and expanding that important recognition of an important public good in our fundamental law. That is the first recommendation.

A crucial feature of Article 41.2 is its placement within the rubric of the constitutional protection of the family. In line with aiming for gender neutrality, the commission broadly supports recommendations to replace references to women and mothers with references to "family life".

However, the commission is of the view that in choosing such wording, regard must be had to the wide range of family relationships that are recognised in the State’s developing law and social policy, as well as in the context of international human rights law.

A wider conception of family life encompasses a wider range of caring relationships than parenting alone, including beyond the family home. The commission believes it is possible, and desirable, to amend Article 41.2 to recognise and support care work within this wider understanding of family life. Ireland is in the process of transformation. Our population is ageing, our families are smaller and they often come in diverse forms. In many ways, our current national conversation is seeking to understand how we can ensure our fundamental law catches up, in order to be more reflective of our society. The commission believes that an opportunity exists to approach reform of Article 41.2 both as an exercise in removing an archaic reference and as a means of introducing a compassionate, generous recognition of the public good realised within Ireland’s diverse families and in caring roles.

I thank the committee again for the invitation to appear today.