From the 1986 Divorce Referendum a leaflet “Rosaries Against Divorce” from the St. Thomas More Save The Family Campaign in Cork.
“Divorce Is A Human Tragedy. Vote No” – Anti Divorce Campaign -1986 Divorce Referendum March 4, 2021
From the 1986 Divorce Referendum “Divorce Is A Human Tragedy. Vote No” leaflet from The Anti Divorce Campaign outlining various reasons to vote No.
“Inform Your Conscience -Vote No To Divorce” 1986 Divorce Referendum -‘Marriage for Life’ March 20, 2012
“Inform Your Conscience -Vote No To Divorce” from the 1986 Divorce Referendum produced by the Kerry based group ‘Marriage for Life’.
The “Towards a Solution” section contains all sorts of remedies to stop marital breakdown whilst other parts link rejecting Divorce to rejecting Nuclear Power and Military Alliances.
Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge
Garret Fitzgerald 1986 Divorce Referendum “I call on the women of Ireland to vote YES” December 8, 2011
From the 1986 Referendum on Divorce, Fine Gael Leader and then Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald calls “… on the women of Ireland to vote YES”.
The Referendum was defeated.
From 1986 “Protect the Family -VOTE NO TO DIVORCE” October 28, 2011
From the 1986 Divorce Referendum an ad from the “Anti Divorce Campaign Committee” with the slogan “Protect the Family -VOTE NO TO DIVORCE”.
“Under the Amendment YOU COULD BE DIVORCED AGAINST YOUR WILL- Vote No to Divorce 1986 Referendum August 3, 2011
From the 1986 Divorce Referendum a flyer from The Anti Divorce Campaign Committee with the message
“Under the Amendment YOU COULD BE DIVORCED AGAINST YOUR WILL – Vote No to Divorce ”
Divorce Referendum 1986- The Association of Lawyers Against the Amendment September 24, 2009
Quite a detailed legalistic document from the Association of Lawyers against the Amendment. It is difficult at times to read in its original form never mind after going through my scanner.
This goes through the proposed amendments wording and then argues against it. It does give a more balanced Legal arguement (which wouldn’t be too difficult) against the Amendment other than ‘Divorce is wrong’ and so on.
Divorce Referendum 1986- ‘The Balance Of Compassion- 12 Reasons For Saying No’
I dont know what organisation issued the leaflet and cant find anything on ‘Lir Press’ either. There are some incredible reasons in the ’12 Reasons for Saying No’… amongst them…. ‘No one can ignore the sad and condemnable cases of battering husbands. But, by allowing divorce, we permit husbands who have battered their wives to continue this crime into a new, second relationship’
Labour campaigned using the slogan “Put Compassion in the Constitution”
Amongst Other Divorce Referendum items on the site…
Labour Party ‘Yes’ to Divorce 1986
‘The Alice Glenn Report May 1986- A Woman Voting for Divorce is like a Turkey voting for Christmas’
Divorce Action Group- Yes to Divorce
1986- ‘The Association of Lawyers against the Amendment
Labour -Yes to Divorce 1986
This is from the 1986 Divorce Referendum. The Yes side had the simple argument of recognising when a marriage had broken down and giving people a second chance. The No side had legal, moral and other arguements against. As Far as I’m aware Fine Gael whilst in favour of the referendum didn’t officially campaign. Labour were the only major party advocating a Yes vote.
Divorce Action Group -“Vote Yes to Divorce” 1986 Referendum September 18, 2009
Given that it was a contentious issue and parties were split by the issue, the main parties produced little on the 1986 Divorce Referendum.
This is a leaflet from the main Divorce pressure group of the time, The Divorce Action Group. Also refered to as DAG they had been founded in 1980.
The Alice Glenn Report May 1986- ‘A Woman voting for Divorce is like a Turkey voting for Christmas’ September 10, 2009
‘A Woman voting for Divorce is like a Turkey voting for Christmas’ says Alice
We’ve moved on a bit since Alice, but this gives an idea of attitudes in the mid 80’s. Alice wasn’t a crackpot either as these views were fairly mainstream. She was a Fine Gael TD for Dublin Central at the time.
Well worth a read.
Irish Election Literature 
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