VOTERS in Ireland have rejected a change in the country’s constitution that would have broadened the definition of family and removed language about a woman’s role in the home, according to results announced today.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar conceded defeat on Saturday as the two constitutional amendments he supported were headed towards rejection.

Mr Varadkar, who had framed the vote as about removing old-fashioned language and advancing gender equality, said that voters had delivered “two wallops” to the government in a referendum with 44 per cent turnout.

A resounding 67 per cent rejected the family amendment, to change the definition of family from a relationship founded on marriage to “durable relationships,” versus 32 per cent who voted yes.

The care amendment, to replace a reference to a “mother’s duties in the home,” was voted down by a huge 74 per cent, to 24 per cent.

Sinn Fein and the other main opposition parties had supported “yes, yes,” as did many advocacy groups.

The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) had urged a Yes vote on the family amendment but a No vote on the care amendment, calling it a “cynical” ploy to remove a commitment to state support for mothers and carers under the guise of modernising language.

The care amendment was “cover to absolve the state of its responsibility to support vulnerable citizens. The proposed amendment essentially privatises the responsibility for care to the newly defined family unit, providing no guarantee of state support,” it said.

Una Ui Dhuinn, a nurse in Dublin, said: “We didn’t get enough time to think about it and read up on it. So, to be on the safe side, [I voted] ‘no, no’ —  no change.”