Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am in no doubt about that, Deputy.

Deputy McGrath has called for a Dáil debate. The people are superior to the Dáil and Seanad on constitutional matters. That is the great thing about De Valera's Constitution of 1937. He gave the power of amendment to the people and he did so in an era of fascism. Many people never want to give credit to the Constitution of 1937. When the rest of Europe was going fascist, a genuinely republican constitution was enacted, with the power of amendment resting with the people. Of course, there is also judicial interpretation, which means it is a live document. The Judiciary has interpreted the Constitution in the decades since.

The people have decided in this case. I am comfortable with the fact that the people have decided. I respect their decision. It is open to political parties, the Government and the Oireachtas. It is this Oireachtas that put the question to the public. We can go right back to 1993 when we had the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women. Then there was the Constitutional Review Group report of 1996; the all-party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution tenth progress report of 2006; the second report of the Constitutional Convention of 2013; the Department of Justice and Equality's task force of 2016; the Oireachtas justice committee report of 2018; the report of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality of 2021; and the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Gender Equality of 2022. All of those, going right back to 1993, with successive Members of Oireachtas across all parties, agreed on proposing the deletion of those articles from the Constitution. This was the first Government that put the question. People may argue about the precise formula that was used to put the question to the people but we were acting on a succession of reports that had broad consensus. Now it seems that the public has taken a decision. People appear to be not as exercised about those specific articles as Members of successive Oireachtais might have thought. I accept the decision of the people.

With respect, it is not fair for the Deputy to suggest that people were misled in this House or that Ministers misled anyone. The legal advice we received is extensive and covers far more than the one letter that was published on the eve of the referendum. Without question, all amendments to the Constitution will be subject to judicial interpretation. That is obvious and was said during the course of the debate.

Regarding the issue of prioritisation of allocations, the Oireachtas should allocate resources, not the courts. In our constitutional framework, it is the Oireachtas that should allocate and prioritise resources, whether to education, health or wherever else, in the public expenditure realm. That has always been the way.

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