by Louise Doyle
MOTORISTS driving into Letterkenny in the last few days will undoubtedly have spotted a few additions to the Dry Arch Roundabout.
Two posters have been placed atop of the sculpture on the roundabout, which is known as ‘The Workers’.
One of the posters reads: ‘It’s too extreme. No’, and is thought to be in relation to next week’s referendums.
The other poster, which appears to be more handmade, reads ‘Excess Deaths. Rip.ie’.
The sculpture is the first thing visitors see when arriving in the Cathedral town from the south, the east or the north.
Sculpted by Maurice Harron, the two figures commemorate the men who built the railways in Donegal, and are carrying a piece of stone from the original railway bridge.
On Friday, March 8, voters in Donegal and around the country will cast their ballot on two proposed changes to the Irish Constitution, changing an almost 100 year-old definition of what family can be and women’s roles.
Voters are being asked to cast their ballots on two separate family themed issues on that day.
The first concerns the concept of family in the constitution, while the second proposes to delete an existing part of the constitution and insert new text providing recognition for care provided by family members to each other.
The referendum provides two separate votes on whether or not members of the electorate wish to make the proposed changes to the current text of Article 41 of the Constitution. Information booklets have been distributed to 2.3 million households across Ireland.
According to Tanaiste Leo Varadkar the amendments will “reinforce the fact that Ireland is a modern, inclusive nation which strives to treat and care for all its people equally”.
The General Scheme of the Thirty-Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Bill (the Family amendment) proposes to insert the words “whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships”.
The current protection afforded to families under the constitution, as currently written, only extends to married families.
These proposals extend this constitutional right to other lasting relationships and puts them on an equal footing with married families, according to the government.
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