It is the fate of many former outsiders or reformers to become, without being aware of it, the comfortable voice of the establishment. It happened in Ireland to the Catholic Church, with predictably bad consequences. It is happening again to the liberal left.

This was an under-discussed factor in the defeat of the family and care referendums last year. The establishment, including Heather Humphreys as director of elections for Fine Gael, behaved as though there was a burning desire to remove the allegedly sexist references to women in the home.

This managed to annoy lots of people. It enraged many older women who had spent their lives in the home, and are now in the homes of their children, minding their grandchildren. In part, this is happening because childcare is so inaccessible, but it is also because their adult children want their children to have the experience of coming home to a loving presence.

The proposed changes to the Constitution denigrated what these women spent their lives doing – which, funnily enough, gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, just like Article 41.2 says. The proposed wording........

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