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Hopefully today are voting to legalise same sex marriage. Polls indicate YES will win . . . But the older population or the silent majority could win the day for no . . .

Pretty sure it's the first country to ask people to vote on this

Hmm, sounds familiar (apart from the polls indicating a Yes win).

I suspect Yes will win. Ireland is every bit a diverse, modern, western European country nowadays. And unlike here, their population is relatively young, which lessens the chances of the auld farts tipping the balance the other way.

I was a bit surprised that it went to a public referendum though. A know it is a coalition government in Ireland at the moment, so maybe there are issues with having the legislation passed. The cynic in me says that the government is abdicating responsibility for making a big decision.

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I was a bit surprised that it went to a public referendum though. A know it is a coalition government in Ireland at the moment, so maybe there are issues with having the legislation passed. The cynic in me says that the government is abdicating responsibility for making a big decision.

Any change to the Irish constitution requires a referendum. That law is the reason the Irish had referenda over the Nice/Lisbon treaties, while most (maybe all?) of Europe didn't.

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Hmm, sounds familiar (apart from the polls indicating a Yes win).

I suspect Yes will win. Ireland is every bit a diverse, modern, western European country nowadays. And unlike here, their population is relatively young, which lessens the chances of the auld farts tipping the balance the other way.

I was a bit surprised that it went to a public referendum though. A know it is a coalition government in Ireland at the moment, so maybe there are issues with having the legislation passed. The cynic in me says that the government is abdicating responsibility for making a big decision.

Apparently it has gone to a referendum because it requires a change to the constitution. Nae idea why though. I guess their constitution must have some weird stuff in it?

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Apparently it has gone to a referendum because it requires a change to the constitution. Nae idea why though. I guess their constitution must have some weird stuff in it?

Aye, it talks about marriage as the foundation of the family.

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Apparently it has gone to a referendum because it requires a change to the constitution. Nae idea why though. I guess their constitution must have some weird stuff in it?

Somewhere in the constitution it refers to marriage between 'man and a woman', which needs to be changed to 'two people'.

...or something along those lines

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Any change to the Irish constitution requires a referendum. That law is the reason the Irish had referenda over the Nice/Lisbon treaties, while most (maybe all?) of Europe didn't.

Apparently it has gone to a referendum because it requires a change to the constitution. Nae idea why though. I guess their constitution must have some weird stuff in it?

Somewhere in the constitution it refers to marriage between 'man and a woman', which needs to be changed to 'two people'.

...or something along those lines

Thanks for that lads, it makes a bit more sense now.

It still seems strange that something like that should be included in a country's constitution though, but then then the Catholic church did (does?) have a massive amount of influence on life in Ireland. I mind watching a documentary about Irish music a few months ago which featured Sinead O'Connor, who said Ireland went from being colonised by the British to being colonised by the church.

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Thanks for that lads, it makes a bit more sense now.

It still seems strange that something like that should be included in a country's constitution though, but then then the Catholic church did (does?) have a massive amount of influence on life in Ireland. I mind watching a documentary about Irish music a few months ago which featured Sinead O'Connor, who said Ireland went from being colonised by the British to being colonised by the church.

Yep, the political leaders post-independence (the ones that weren't shot during the rebellion!) were very catholic, zealous even.

The church was given a 'special position' in the constitution until the 1970s. It wasn't until 1993 that being gay was finally decriminalised.

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