The government will have to consider how much the views of campaigning NGOs “reflect” those of wider society in the aftermath of Friday’s crushing referendum defeat, a Fine Gael Minister has said.
The comments were made on Saturday by Fine Gael Minister of State Peter Burke, as the results were being counted for the rejected Care referendum (which was ultimately defeated by 73.9%) and the Family referendum (which was defeated by 67.7%).
Speaking on RTÉ’s Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin show, Burke noted the large number of NGOs that had campaigned strongly for a now-rejected ‘Yes’ vote.
“I do think, if you look at the roster of ‘Yes’ campaigners, and those advocates from political parties to NGOs, it’s been quite significant and quite large,” Burke said, adding: “It is a strong blow to the body politic.”
He further stated that the government would need to “look at” how much the views of such campaigning NGOs were “reflective” of wider Irish society.
“I think we need to look and see, in terms of how much some NGOs are reflective of the communities that we live in, because there had been very strong support in some quarters,” he said.
“…the reality is the electorate made a clear and informed decision, and we in government have to listen to that decision.”
State-funded NGOs in receipt of taxpayer money were heavily involved in the ‘Yes’/’Yes’ campaign, including, most prominently, the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI), which receives over 96% of its staffing costs from the government annually. Over the past 10 years, the NWCI has received €7.4 million from either government or publicly-funded entities, including €3.4 million from the Department of Justice alone.
GARY KAVANAGH conducts a forensic examination of the finances of the NWCI and finds that 96% of its staff costs over the past 3 years have been paid for directly by grants from government departments and other publicly funded entities such as the HSE.https://t.co/JZqcRut56f
— gript (@griptmedia) February 8, 2024
Other heavily State-funded NGOs who campaigned for a ‘Yes’ result include LGBT Ireland, SpunOut, the Transgender Equality Network of Ireland (TENI), Outhouse, the Migrant Rights Centre, and many more.
https://twitter.com/NWCI/status/1765766781908471825
On the day of the results, Gript asked Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman, whose Department funds many of these groups, if it was credible to say that groups like the NWCI were representative of society at large given their position in the referendum being so comprehensively defeated.
“We had two proposals put to the people yesterday, and the people have rejected those two specific proposals – that’s something that we respect,” he replied.
“I don’t think it’s indicative of any larger rejection of either these organisations, or indeed all the political parties who advocated for a ‘Yes’/’Yes’ vote.”
Minister Roderic O'Gorman says the public's rejection of #Referendum2024 was not a rejection of the political parties who advocated for a 'Yes'/'Yes' vote, or a rejection of State-funded campaigning NGOs like the National Women's Council.
Question by @Ben_Scallan. pic.twitter.com/DwXjsJ4bJj
— gript (@griptmedia) March 9, 2024