Fade Street, Dublin on Saturday afternoon (top) and Julien Mercille (above)

Women want to be with him.

Men want to marry him.

It’s Monday.

It’s 9.45am

It’s Mercille on Monday at 9.45am.

Dr Mercille writes:

By voting Yes in the marriage referendum, Irish people have taken a giant step in altering popular consciousness. The activism that has taken place over years and culminated in Friday’s vote has made Ireland a more civilised country. The referendum also marked the further erosion of Church control over society, which can only make Ireland saner.

The issue of marriage equality attracted massive media attention. I haven’t done a systematic analysis, but it seems that coverage was roughly equal, so that in the press, a Yes article was usually juxtaposed to a No article.

One could say that this is an example of good, objective media performance. But we need to be careful with that tired notion of ‘balance’ in the media. It’s often a cover for driving conservative agendas.

The issue of marriage equality was a no-brainer. What would we say if we had another referendum on, say, taking away women’s right to vote? Would we want a ‘balanced media’ giving all sorts of arguments claiming that women shouldn’t have a right to vote? That would be odd, and we would recognize at once the conservative nature of the media on that issue. It’s a bit what happened in this referendum, where countless groundless arguments on the No side were given ample space in the media.

In any case, the vote has gone through and it might be more important to look ahead than backwards. Democracy is a full time job, and much remains to be accomplished.

For progressives, it will be important to reject the establishment parties’ attempt at propping up their electoral fortunes through the referendum.

Stephen Collins, the conservative political editor of the Irish Times, wrote an important article on this issue this weekend. He said that the political parties will now try to claim credit for the successful outcome of the referendum. They want to boost their popular support as the general election approaches.

Fine Gael, ironically, could benefit even if it was initially reluctant to hold the referendum: ‘By adopting a cause that is clearly so popular with younger voters Enda Kenny has positioned Fine Gael to add a progressive social image to the Government’, even though it is in fact right-wing and conservative.

For the Labour Party, even two extra percentage points in support ‘could make a vital difference to its electoral prospects in less than a year’s time’.

Fianna Fail, on its part, by ‘taking the progressive and popular side’ has given itself ‘a chance of persuading younger voters to back the party in the election’.

But we need to remember that the main parties are the ones who put the country into such a deep mess. There is a long list of problems, including health care, housing, unemployment and deprivation, which still affects 31% of the population, up from 12% in 2007.

This week provided two other concrete examples of issues to address.

First, believe it or not, Dunnes Stores management struck again. Out of the blue, it announced the ‘immediate closure’ of its Gorey Store in Co. Wexford, putting 100 workers out of work. The workers have no idea what will happen to them.

According to the union Mandate, Dunnes’ behavior is ‘despicable and grossly irresponsible’. The reason for the sudden closure appears to be a petty dispute over a side entrance. Last November, Dunnes Stores opened a door leading directly onto the car park so that customers could bypass the smaller shops on the mall. Dunnes was asked to close that door but refused to do so.

To force Dunnes to close the door, a court injunction was granted a few days ago. Following the court’s decision, Dunnes Stores decided to close the store. Mandate says Dunnes is using the workers as a protest against the court’s decision, effectively using their workers as pawns in the dispute.

Second, we’ve heard a lot about ‘the children’ in the referendum. Actually, Irish children are not doing so well, according to a new report compiled for the United Nations by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office. It shows that the economic crisis and austerity have had serious consequences for thousands of children.

The Irish Times summarized it thus: ‘The Government is tolerating ‘unacceptable’ levels of child poverty, standing over discrimination in schools and failing to protect children from violence, homelessness and bullying’.

A few illustrations:

– 138,000 children are living in poverty, i.e., an increase from 6.8% of children in 2008 to 11.7% in 2013. The government’s target is to lift 70,000 of them out of poverty by 2020, but that will still leave 37,000 in poverty, which is ‘unacceptably high’ and means that the government is willing to accept a higher rate of poverty among children than among the general population.

– 1,054 children in 471 families are homeless.

– 1,400 children are now spending the formative years of their lives in direct provision.

– Over one-third of young people who need mental health care are accommodated in adult facilities.

– Lack of public spending and investment have contributed to ‘protracted delays’ in dealing with children’s issues and impeded their access to ‘vital health services and education supports’.

Not a great record, to say the least.

In short, Ireland has just taken an important step toward a more progressive society — and now is the time to push further ahead.

@JulienMercille is lecturer at UCD and the author of The Political Economy and Media Coverage of the European Economic Crisis: The Case of Ireland (2015, Routledge). His new book, Europe’s Treasure Ireland (Palgrave), will be out in July 2015.

Top pic: Dongle