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Irish government 'walloped' by referendum defeats

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Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar speaks to the media at Dublin Castle as counting for the twin referendum to change the Constitution on family and care continues, in Dublin, March 9. AP-Yonhap

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar speaks to the media at Dublin Castle as counting for the twin referendum to change the Constitution on family and care continues, in Dublin, March 9. AP-Yonhap

Irish voters have rejected proposals to replace constitutional references to the makeup of a family and a mother's "duties in the home" in a significant defeat for the government.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had pitched the vote, held on Friday to coincide with International Women's Day and counted on Saturday, as a chance to delete some "very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women".

A proposal to expand the definition of family from a relationship founded on marriage to include other durable relationships was rejected by 67.7 percent to 32.3 percent.

A second referendum on a proposal to replace language surrounding a woman's duties in the home with a clause recognising the role of family members in the provision of care was rejected by 73.9 percent to 26.1 percent.

Campaigners argued the proposal would enshrine care as a private responsibility, and not a state one.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Saturday, Varadkar said voters had given his government "two wallops."

"It was our responsibility to convince a majority of people to vote yes, and we clearly failed to do so." (Reuters)