The Eight Amendment Repealed In Landslide Victory
With all votes counted, and results tallied it is clear that the people have rejected the status quo, they have rejected the scaremongering and dirty tactics of the ‘NO’ campaign. But more importantly they have rejected the influence that the Church has in our everyday lives.
Those who voted for the repeal of the backwards Eight Amendment are on the right side of history, they have corrected a very old wrong. Through the efforts of numerous political parties, charities, trade unions, activists and ordinary citizens; through the United platform of Together For Yes, we have won. We have won at the expense of those seeking to stifle the march of social progress.
We in Éirígí we are proud to have played our part in the campaign, and in ultimately repealing the 8th. The women and men in our organisation have worked tirelessly in pursuit in achieving today’s fantastic result.
From Galway to Dublin, Athlone to Wexford our activists have helped canvass and leaflet tens of thousands of homes and individuals, we have put up hundreds of posters, as well as playing a part in the conversation on achieving the repeal of the 8th.
This campaign has galvanised the youth of this State, it has shown them that participation in a homogeneous, grassroots movement, encompassing a wide variety of different organisations can reap serious results.
We hope the people who were active in this successful campaign will now refocus their energies towards other issues that affect every single one of us. We must now tackle these issues with the hard work, enthusiasm and optimism shown during this campaign. Issues such as housing, healthcare, natural resources, capitalism, imperialism and the unification of our island must now take precedence.
The next few months will be crucial in securing what we, and many more like us have campaigned for so passionately over the last number of years, that is the right to ‘FREE, SAFE and LEGAL all-Ireland abortion services’’. And also access to free contraception and quality sex education.
We have won a great victory, a victory sure to consign the toxic influence of the religious right-wing on this States citizens to the dustbin of history; as well as exposing the mutually beneficial relationship between Church and State for what it was and what it is.
This victory is the last nail in the coffin of ‘Old Ireland’, and just the first step on the path to a secular, 32-County Socialist Republic. We in Éirígí will play our part in achieving this reality, we hope you will join us in achieving this reality too.