Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

This amendment seeks to widen the definition of "the Family" in the Constitution to marriage or another durable relationship. This is a step away from the rigid definition of family in the 1937 Constitution. It is clearly more in line with the reality of Ireland in 2023, a society with 150,000 cohabiting couples, half of whom have children. One child in three is born to parents who are not married to each other. One child in five is part of a one-parent household. I have to disagree, however, with points that were raised earlier in the debate which would give one the impression that these are all totally new things, as though we did not have lone parents in the 1930s and the 1940s. Of course we did, and the Constitution and this provision in the Constitution was used to discriminate against them in a serious and vicious fashion.

It is a bit difficult to concentrate with the noise going on.

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