On 22nd May Ireland will hold two Referenda on the same day.
a, To change the minimum age of when an individual can become The President of Ireland from 35 to 21.
Personally I think that 21 is too young and that anyone who takes up this high office needs to have 'lived' and to have had life experiences.
b,The one that is upper most in the news is the Marriage Equality Referendum.
This referendum is being held to make a change in the Irish Constitution about the rights of the individual to marry a person of their choice- a person of the same sex as themselves.
Currently the word ‘marriage' in the Constitution refers only to the marriage between a male and a female, it fails to recognise the rights of the individual. The 1916 Proclamation guaranteed religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all of its citizens.
It is now time to put that right.
I have read the amendment and I have read the Children and Family Relationships Bill and am satisfied that the Marriage Equality amendment has nothing to do with children.
The state of being married does not mean that children will be produced by the couple, adopted or even fostered and being married does not give any couple a right to a family.
Nor does the Marriage Equality referendum have anything to do with religion.
Myself and Mrs H enjoy a very happy marriage and I see no reason why my gay friends in Ireland should not be allowed to do the same, especially as some of them have been partners for a lot longer than we have.
This sounds like the right thing to do, Mel! I hope the yes vote wins!
ReplyDeleteThank you Val, so do I.
ReplyDeleteMarriage between 2 individuals should have no restrictions on it, if they're of a legal age and aren't too closely related. As for being president, I'm not sure 35 is even old enough.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree with your every word - Thanks Janet.
Delete"The 1916 Proclamation guaranteed religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all of its citizens." I will be voting Yes!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was unfortunate that the original authors of the Constitution did not include the piece about equal rights.
DeleteSame sex marriage? Being married to someone like me would be hell on earth!
ReplyDeleteOne can only feel sorry for Hay :)
DeleteIf marriage partners are of the same sex, being closely related would not be a problem.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your contribution Harlow and you are correct.
DeleteCate Blanchet the Australian actress was asked recently if she had ever had a sexual relationship with a woman and her response was no. She said later that her response should've been - it's 2015 and so who cares.
ReplyDeleteSurely with all of the awful things happening in the world we shouldn't deny people of happiness.
I look forward to this referendum and really hope that Ireland, the Ireland that brought in the smoking ban, the plastic bag levy when everyone thought it would fail - I hope this Ireland is progressive enough to do the right thing.
Vote yes and lets all be happy!
Thank you for your point of view Grace which I completely agree with.
DeleteCompletely agree & good luck to the yes campaign!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve, it is I think a sensible outcome.
DeleteI have many friends who were in civil partnerships but married once the law changed here. There was so much anti propaganda going around before the law was changed it was ridiculous, it is a simple equal rights issue nothing else. I hope the vote in Ireland goes the right way. I also agree with you about lowering the age to 21, the same reasoning applies to plans to lower the voting age to 16 here :) xxx
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you Fran and many thanks for your comments.
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