Two referendums to update constitutional language on the role of women and the definition of families have been resoundingly defeated.
The "Family" referendum asked voters to remove a reference to marriage as the basis "on which the family is founded" and replace it with a clause that defined marriages and "other durable relationships" as families. If passed, it would have been the 39th Amendment to the Irish Constitution.
The "Care" referendum, meanwhile, would have removed a reference to women's role in the home as a key support to the State and deleted a statement that "mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labor to the neglect of their duties in the home".
If passed, the 40th Amendment would have also added a clause stating that the State will strive to support "the provision of care by members of a family to one another".
The twin referendums were held on Friday, March 8, to mark International Women's Day. Both were resoundingly defeated, with just 32.3% of voters voting in favor of the Family Amendment and only 26.1% voting in favor of the Care Amendment.
Turnout was just 44.36%, a 19% drop compared to the 2018 abortion referendum.
A total of 1,021,546 voters, or 67.7%, voted against the Family Amendment, with just 487,564 voting in favor.
Meanwhile, the amendment was defeated in all but one of the 39 voting constituencies, with only Dun Laoghaire voting in favor - by a margin of just 255 votes.
The amendment was narrowly defeated in Dublin Bay South and Dublin-Rathdown, but it was crushed in other parts of the country, including in Donegal, where 80% of voters voted against it.
A total of 78% of Cavan-Monaghan voters also rejected the amendment, while 76% of Laois-Offaly voters also voted against it.
The results were even more comprehensive in the Care referendum.
A total of 1,114,620 people, or 73.9%, voted against the amendment compared to just 393,053 (26.1%) who voted in favor.
It marks the biggest "No" vote in Irish referendum history, with all 39 constituencies rejecting the amendment.
Voters in Donegal had the highest rejection rate, with 84% voting against. Cavan-Monaghan (81%), Laois-Offaly (80%), and Dublin North-West (79%) were the next-highest constituencies for the "No" vote.
Speaking before the results were officially announced, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he accepted responsibility for the failure of both referendums.
"We accept the result. We will respect the result fully, and as the head of Government and on behalf of the Government we accept responsibility for our failure to convince a majority of people to vote Yes," Varadkar told the RTÉ SixOne News.
"I think we struggled to convince people of the necessity or a need for the referendum at all, let alone the detail and the wording. That's obviously something we're going to have to reflect on into the weeks and months ahead."
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he fully accepted the decision of the Irish people.
"It is a living document, one of the great attributes of that document is giving the power to the people to decide on whether or not there should be changes to the constitution," Martin said.
"The Government fully accepts the decision of the people, we will continue to work on supporting families and supporting care both in and outside of the home, we will continue to do that through budgets and through Government policy, and we will fulfill our mandate in that respect."
Martin added that he did not think the referendum would be held again as "the people have spoken so emphatically".
There had been widespread support for removing outdated language referring to a woman's role in the home from the Constitution, but there was also widespread concern about the Government's choice of words to replace it.
The current wording states that a woman's "life within the home" is a source of support for the State and that women should not have to go out into the workplace while neglecting their "duties in the home".
The proposed amendment said the State would "strive" to support family-based care, angering many disability activists who said they feared the amendment would enshrine in the Constitution the idea that care is mainly the responsibility of family members.
"No" campaigners insisted that the onus should be firmly on the State to care for all citizens equally. They also said the use of the word "strive" was too vague.
"Nothing in the wording gives me confidence that this is about protecting the rights of disabled people and older people," No campaigner Ann Marie Flanagan told the BBC.
"It is nothing to do with care, and it is nothing to do with women's rights."
The Family Amendment, meanwhile, sought to include "durable relationships" as legally defined families.
Supporting the amendment, the Taoiseach said around one million people are currently in families not based on marriage. He said the amendment would ensure that the State supports all families, not just those defined by marriage.
However, opponents to the amendment said the term "durable relationship" is too vague and could lead to unintended consequences.
Legal experts warned that failure to define the term could have implications for future family court cases, inheritance disputes, tax law, and immigration cases.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald, who advocated for a Yes vote in both referendums, blamed the coalition Government for going on a "solo run" regarding the language of the two amendments.
"I really dislike that language as you know and since it was first written, Republican women have railed against sexist language in respect of women in the Constitution and it’s something that I would hope we would return to," McDonald told reporters on Saturday.
"But let me state again, that the referendums as put have failed, so I just want to reassure people that there would be no attempt on our part to re-run the same questions."
McDonald was heckled by several far-right agitators as she arrived at Dublin Castle on Saturday, with some people labeling her a "traitor".
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