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Ireland gay marriage referendum: high urban turnout boosts yes hopes Ireland gay marriage referendum: I think yes vote has won, says equality minister
(about 11 hours later)
A huge turnout across urban Ireland has boosted yes campaigners’ hopes for victory in the republic’s referendum on legalising gay marriage in the Catholic country. It is expected that the national turnout will be about 60%, far higher than for any other previous referendum, with 3.2 million people registered to vote. Kevin Humphreys, a Labour party junior minister, said turnout was high in working-class and middle-class parts of his Dublin South East constituency. Voters in Ireland appear to have voted strongly in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in the republic’s referendum, the country’s equality minister said on Saturday shortly, after counting began.
“I think it’s won. I’ve seen bellwether boxes open, middle-of-the road areas who wouldn’t necessarily be liberal and they are resoundingly voting yes,” equality minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin told Reuters at the main count centre in Dublin.
Related: Ireland gay marriage referendum results: vote-counting begins - live
Final results are not expected until Saturday afternoon in the poll, which is expected to make history in the global struggle for gay rights in a nation where only 22 years ago homosexuality was still criminalised.
Grainne Healy, co-director of the Yes Equality group, said: “It’s an extraordinary day.
“We were going out not telling people to vote yes, we were going out saying: ‘I am voting yes and I’d like to tell you why.’ That’s how the campaign started and that’s how it has worked.”
Leo Varadkar, health minister and Ireland’s first openly gay cabinet member, said it was a special day. “It seems to me that the Irish people had their minds made up on this some time ago,” he said.
Senator David Norris, one of the key figures in having homosexuality decriminalised in the 1990s, said a yes victory would be a wonderful result.
“I believe that by the end of today gay people will be equal in this country. I think it’s wonderful,” he said. “It’s a little bit late for me. As I said the other day I’ve spent so much time pushing the boat out that I forgot to jump on and now it’s out beyond the harbour on the high seas, but it’s very nice to look at.”
David Quinn, director of the Iona Institute religious thinktank, one of the leading groups fighting the reform, took to Twitter: “Congratulations to the Yes side. Well done.”
The Fianna Fail leader, Micheál Martin, told RTE Radio on Saturday that he was confident the result would see the introduction of gay marriage.
“I think it was a debate that captured the imagination and I had a strong sense that the yes vote would win,” he said. “I think that will be borne out today.”
Ballot boxes were opened at 9am on Saturday and an official result is expected some time in the afternoon. But if tallies from the 27 count centres in 43 constituencies continue the same pattern seen in the first hour, campaigners will be calling it much earlier.
It is expected that the national turnout will be about 60%, with 3.2 million people registered to vote. Kevin Humphreys, a Labour party junior minister, said turnout was high in both working-class and middle-class parts of his Dublin South East constituency.
Friday’s nationwide vote to give same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry has drawn worldwide attention, with dozens of foreign broadcasters arriving in Dublin for the count.
The focus now shifts from the polling stations to the counts at 43 parliamentary constituencies and then Dublin Castle – once the seat of British power in Ireland – where the overall national vote will be counted. About 2,000 citizens will watch an outdoor screening of the announcement of the result on Saturday afternoon inside the castle’s grounds.The focus now shifts from the polling stations to the counts at 43 parliamentary constituencies and then Dublin Castle – once the seat of British power in Ireland – where the overall national vote will be counted. About 2,000 citizens will watch an outdoor screening of the announcement of the result on Saturday afternoon inside the castle’s grounds.
Related: #hometovote: Irish abroad return to vote in gay marriage referendum Simon Coveney, government minister and director of the referendum campaign for the main ruling party, Fine Gael, said he hoped that the large turnout would carry the proposition in favour of marriage equality.Referring to the old Ireland where priests, bishops and cardinals dominated politicians and people from their pulpits, Coveney said that he sensed that the outcome would show the Irish people “letting something negative go, leaving a prejudice we know is there as part of our history behind us”.
Turnout was particularly strong in Greater Dublin which has been more traditionally liberal and open to change, compared to other parts of the country. Some polling stations in Dublin South East such as Donnybrook reported that up to 80% of the electorate had voted, with the overall average around 60%.
I believe that by the end of today gay people will be equal in this country
In Ireland’s second city, Cork, the turnout is expected to be more than 60%. The national turnout is expected to be higher than most referendums held over the past 25 years. Yes campaigners believe that a whole new generation of younger voters have turned up at polling stations for the first time.
The proposition drawn up by the Fine Gael-Labour government asked Irish voters to amend their 78-year-old constitution, which originally defined marriage as purely between man and woman.
Voters were offered the chance to amend that constitution to: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”
Opinion polls throughout the two-month campaign suggest the government-backed amendment should be approved by a majority of voters, which would make Ireland the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through a referendum when the results are declared on Saturday. People who left the country less than 18 months ago were able to vote, but needed to show up at a polling station in person.Opinion polls throughout the two-month campaign suggest the government-backed amendment should be approved by a majority of voters, which would make Ireland the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through a referendum when the results are declared on Saturday. People who left the country less than 18 months ago were able to vote, but needed to show up at a polling station in person.
On Twitter, travellers documented their disparate journeys home via London, New York, Bangkok and Nairobi, often under the hashtags #HomeToVote or, for those in neighbouring Britain, #GetTheBoatToVote. One posted a picture on a London-to-Wales train with travellers donning the rainbow colours and balloons of the gay rights movement.
“I’m coming back to @ireland to vote in #MarRef. I’m coming back to help make history. I’m coming back for the future,” tweeted Ian McCafferty on his way from Brussels.
I'm coming back to @ireland to vote in #MarRef. I'm coming back to help make history. I'm coming back for the future. pic.twitter.com/myq5tjAZ9e
Irish singer Hozier posted a selfie in which he held up a Yes Equality “I’m ready to vote” sign. “Flying in to vote ... It’s the most important thing you’ll do. Don’t forget!” he wrote.
However, voters leaving one polling station in north-east Dublin, a Catholic parish hall, demonstrated a clear generation gap when asked how they had voted. Those under 40 were solidly yes; older voters were much more likely to have voted no.
Related: #hometovote: Irish abroad return to vote in gay marriage referendum
“You can’t give the gays their rights without redefining the whole institution of marriage. What they’re asking for is too much,” said Bridget Ryan, 61, as she voted with her border collie in tow.
The Fine Gael-Labour government and the main opposition parties all back a yes vote.The Fine Gael-Labour government and the main opposition parties all back a yes vote.
This morning Fionnuala and I voted YES for marriage equality An alliance of evangelical Catholics and Protestants has distributed more than 90,000 anti-gay marriage pamphlets in the last week across Ireland, urging the electorate to veto same-sex marriage. They argue that the legalisation of gay marriage would undermine the Catholic faith and trigger unintended legal consequences in Irish courts, where adoption and surrogacy rights loom as distinct legal battlegrounds.
The government’s minister for equality, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, cast his yes ballot in north-east Dublin, declaring it the most important vote of his life. He took heart from early signs of a strong turnout, since involvement by young, first-time voters is considered key for the gay-rights measure to pass. “This is a referendum like no other,” Ó Ríordáin told Associated Press. “There’s a buzz and an anticipation of this like I’ve never seen before.” A yes result would provide fresh evidence of waning church influence in a country that, in the 1980s, voted forcefully in referendums to outlaw abortion and reject divorce.
The government believes the high turnout, combined with the 68,000 voters who registered in the last weeks of the campaign, will result in a yes verdict when the votes counted from all of Ireland’s 43 constituencies are collated into a final national result. “This morning Fionnuala and I voted YES for marriage equality,” the republic’s prime minister, Enda Kenny, wrote on Twitter.
However, some gay rights activists continued to express caution yesterday, based on previous votes when anti-government sentiment and low turnout produced surprise referendum rejections. The no campaign, consisting mainly of lay Catholic intellectuals, writers and activists, have warned that a yes vote will create a crisis of personal conscience in Ireland.
An alliance of evangelical Catholics and Protestants have distributed more than 90,000 anti-gay marriage pamphlets in the last week across Ireland, urging the electorate to veto same-sex marriage. They argue that the legalisation of gay marriage would undermine the Catholic faith and trigger unintended legal consequences in Irish courts, where adoption and surrogacy rights loom as distinct legal battlegrounds.
A yes result would provide fresh evidence of waning church influence in a country which, in the 1980s, voted forcefully in referendums to outlaw abortion and reject divorce.
Poignantly on polling day, members of the public left flowers and candles at the spot inside Fairview Park in north Dublin where Declan Flynn was murdered in a homophobic attack 33 years ago that galvanised the gay community to speak out about homophobia and discrimination in Ireland.
Currently 17 countries, including the UK, Spain, France, Argentina and Denmark, along with several states in the US, allow same-sex couples to marry.Currently 17 countries, including the UK, Spain, France, Argentina and Denmark, along with several states in the US, allow same-sex couples to marry.