Liberalism has won in a mature, functioning democracy

The pro-life movement has strengths that liberal Ireland would do well to respect, but its high communal standards are harsh on individuals

Genevieve O’Mahony 25, Sinead Williams 26, Elieen Lynch 27, Lucy O’ Shea 28, from Dublin in the RDS, Dublin, at the Irish referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment. Pic:

Liberalism has won. Yesterday’s victory is the latest in a series of victories (on contraception, homosexuality, divorce, children’s rights, gender recognition, marriage) that, together, amount to a slow-burning revolution. (The battle on the secularisation of education is, admittedly, ongoing, but liberalism is in the ascendant.)

Some swagger would be understandable: this victory was hard won. But along the way damage was done. Traumatised by the setbacks of the 1980s and by the indignities ...