Submission: Referendums on Family, Care and Gender Equality

Our submission to the public consultation on the referendums on family, care and gender equality, set out below, endorses the recommendations made by our colleagues in FLAC.

CLM’s legal service – which consists of information, advice, advocacy and representation –specialises in the areas of equality and employment law, housing, homelessness, social welfare, debt, family, children’s law and environmental justice. We also provide outreach legal advice clinics in partnership with Family Carers Ireland, the Irish Cancer Society, EPIC (Empowering Children in Care), Novas and Ballyfermot Travellers Action Project.

Articles 40.1 and 41 of the Constitution, in their current form, undermine the rights of the people we work with, leaving many children, parents, carers and members of marginalised groups excluded from the protections that are afforded to others. The outdated and discriminatory nature of these provisions impede our work in supporting our clients to access the supports and services to which they should be entitled.

CLM’s experience very much echoes that outlined by our colleagues in FLAC, and we fully agree with FLAC’s position that the upcoming referendums provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to strengthen the equality guarantee and overarching equality architecture in the Constitution.

Our submission, set out below, endorses FLAC’s  recommendations.