Ireland Says Yes

Ireland voters have overwhelmingly secured same-sex marriage in their country after the marriage equality referendum was passed on the weekend.

More than 1.2 million people voted in the referendum which makes Ireland the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by public vote.

On Sunday the returning office for the vote Ríona Ní Fhlanghaile declared that Ireland had passed the same-sex marriage referendum by 1,201,607 votes to 734,300.

That’s 62.1% yes to 37.9% no. The total turnout was 60.5%.

Only one of the 43 constituencies voted against the proposal – Roscommon-South Leitrim – while the yes vote exceeded 70% in many parts of Dublin.

The no campaigners have paid tribute to their opponents, and the archbishop of Dublin has said the result should be a wake-up call for the Catholic church in Ireland.

Supporters of the yes vote were extremely nervous following the vote given there was a larger than expected turnout and there was a chance many of those were rural voters who were more likely to vote not.

But their fears were discounted early as word filtered through that the Irish people and spoken decisively.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said “Congratulations to the people of Ireland, after voting for same-sex marriage, making clear you are equal if you are straight or gay.”

Ireland’s Mr Gay World delegate Marcos Vinicius showed that he was emotional and nervous on the day of the vote but once the result was known he took to social media to exclaim his relief.

Speaking with Eikon, Vinicius said, “It is not just a victory for gay people or for the yes side, but also for democracy and for Irish society.

“This is the first country in the world to introduce same-sex marriage by referendum, with every citizen having a vote.”

“I’m very pleased to have been involved in the campaign. It involved political parties doing their canvassing as well as gay groups and a lot of ordinary citizens. A lot of it was on social media.”

“One good thing was how many more young people registered specially for this referendum and turned out to vote. And more people voted yesterday than in any referendum for years.”

“The media are also full of stories of immigrants coming home just to vote, including some from New Zealand!” said Vinicius.

Former Mr World and Irish television host Kamal Ibrahim summed up the mood from the whole community on Sunday by penning and important note on his facebook, suggesting that this was a significant world wide moment.

Last Updated on May 25, 2015