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Breach of the Constitution?

mkdon05 · 2013-04-03 13:02:16

Decided to have a read through the constitution today, as its something fundamental to all our rights as citizens of Ireland and which I have never looked at before! After a few minutes scanning it, I came across Article 41 section 2; the state shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure mothers shall not be obliged by economic…

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#32 04-04-2013 11:03am
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Shenshen wrote: »

I'm always kind of wary of putting minority rights "to the people". Much as I support democratic process, personal rights should never be put to vote. The need to be non-negotiable.
Allowing the public to vote on who they do or do not want to have certain rights is a very slippery slope indeed....

As it stands, there is equality in terms of marriage in this country. Any man may marry any woman - with conditions regarding age, mental state, familial relationships (which could be debated in a similar way to same-sex marriage if there was the public will to do it).

The exact same rules apply to every single citizen of this state.

To allow same-sex marriage, we would need to redefine what marriage is and has always been regarded as - a union of one man and one woman. So it is not a question, as you suggest, of granting certain rights to citizens who currently don't have those rights. It is a question of redefining an institution and (as per marriage as it currently stands) applying the same laws to every citizen as we currently do.

I agree, "majority rules" should not be applied to granting rights to certain citizens....we should all have the same rights as everyone else. But it is reasonable to suggest that all citizens be asked if they want to amend the constitution to allow for the redefinition of an existing institutions/right.

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