Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Saturday two government-supported referendums seeking to amend the Irish constitution to more broadly define families and the roles of women were defeated at the polls.
The prime minister and his government had sought to update language in the constitution — some of which had been written in 1937 or earlier — to reflect modern sensibilities. At a news conference in Dublin, Varadkar said it was clear the votes were destined to fail, and he took responsibility for not selling people on the need for the changes. “It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote ‘Yes.’ And we clearly failed to do so.”
