*** UPDATE: THIS VOTE WILL HAPPEN ON THE 7TH SEPTEMBER***
Following on from Cork City Council voting in support of a referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment in September of last year, this evening Dublin City Council will be voting on a similar motion proposed by Michael O’Brien of the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA).
ARC is asking you today to write/email/ring/text your local Councillors today urging them to support this motion to hold a referendum to repeal the 8th. A sample email is below, though we encourage you to personalize your message and include your address so that your Councillor knows they are hearing from a local constituent.
Dear Councillor ______________,
I’m writing to urge you to vote in support of the motion proposed to hold a referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.
Though the motion is non-binding, it is an important statement of consensus from our capital city.
The 8th Amendment poses a direct risk to the health and lives of women and girls in Ireland and must be repealed as a matter of urgency.One opinion poll after another shows that the Irish people are calling for a referendum to repeal the 8th. We are asking you to represent our voices at the council meeting tonight.
Regards,
—
You can look up your local Councillors details here.
Please bcc [email protected] if you want us to contact you directly about upcoming advocacy trainings and advocacy opportunities!
If you want to watch the vote live, you can do so here. The meeting starts at 6.15 pm this evening, and the motion to hold a referendum to repeal the 8th is no. 31 on the agenda.
Motions on Notice
31. COUNCILLOR MICHAEL O’BRIEN
Received: 22/08/2014 Replaced: 24/06/2015
That Dublin City CouncilNoting the welcome passing of the marriage equality referendum by a wide margin reflecting a qualitative shift in public opinion in favour of progressive social change particularly among the youth and working class communities where the highest ‘Yes’ votes were recorded and Further noting recent reports from Amnesty International and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights critiquing Ireland’s highly restrictive abortion laws-
Calls on the government to hold a referendum during the remainder of this Dáil term to repeal the eighth amendment of the Constitution
Please take the time to contact your Councillors and ask them to support this motion before 6pm, you can email, ring, text or some of them are even on twitter, you can quickly find them on our spreadsheet here
The vote will take place this Monday the 5th of October so people have this weekend to send messages to Councillors to encourage them to support the vote.