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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Jon Henley

Irish abortion referendum: yes wins with 66.4% – as it happened

The map shows the breakdown of results: an overwhelming yes to repealing the eighth.

That brings our live coverage to an end. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Our full report on today’s historic result is here.

With a turnout of 64.1%, all but one constituency voted in favour of the ‘Yes’ campaign with twice the number of votes cast for ‘No’

That’s it then: as those two shock exit polls predicted last night, by a margin of 66.4% for yes to 33.6% for no and on a record turnout of 64.51%, Ireland has voted to repeal the eighth amendment of its constitution, which since 1983 has effectively prohibited abortion in all bar exceptional circumstances.

Here’s is Guardian Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald’s full story on the events of a historic day, what led up to them, and what they might mean.

Here is Harriet Sherwood’s explanation of what will happen to Ireland’s abortion legislation now, and how the government’s planned new regime compares with the rest of the world.

And here is her article about how the spotlight in the abortion debate is now likely to switch to Northern Ireland.

Updated

The final three results have been confirmed, and as expected Donegal was the only one of Ireland’s 40 constituencies to vote no:

  • Sligo-Leitrim 59.38% yes, 40.62% no
  • Cork East 64.12% yes, 35.88% no
  • Donegal 51.87% no, 48.13% yes

Updated

My colleague at Dublin Castle Emma Graham-Harrison tells me that as the results were announced, the crowds in the courtyard began chanting, “Savita, Savita!” - the name of the Indian dentist who died of sepsis in 2012 after being refused an abortion during a protracted miscarriage.

Updated

Eighth amendment repealed

Here we are, the final result. Returning officer Barry Ryan is announcing the result:

Yes: 1,429,981 NO: 723,632

A majority of 706,349 for yes

That’s 66.4% for yes, and 33.6% for no

Ireland’s eighth amendment has therefore been repealed.

Updated

So while we’re all waiting patiently for the final result – it’s been an hour-and-a-half since the last constituency declared – it seems at least someone in the crowd at Dublin Castle has a nice sense of humour:

Updated

Readers have been telling the Guardian about what they hope will happen next.

Katie, film-maker:

For both sides, this is a very difficult and emotional topic and I hope that people can be gentle and empathetic with each other. I hope that women are treated with respect. I hope that women are given compassion. I hope that women are given the ability to make the extremely difficult and painful decision about an unplanned pregnancy without needing to feel shame or facing barriers. I hope that women are given the option to have quality medical advice and facilities if they so choose.

Lloyd Meadhbh Houston, student:

In the short term, I hope that this result will improve the lives of women in Ireland and Northern Ireland, allowing access to free, safe, and legal terminations to women in the south, and a shorter, more manageable journey for women in the North. In the long term, I believe this result offers further evidence of the absurdity, hypocrisy, and cruelty of the prohibition of abortion in the North of Ireland. 26 counties down, six to go. The fight isn’t over.

Louse Kinsella, mother:

I hope the government will put in place legislation, with sufficient financial supports and recruitment to support the proposals. I also hope that there will be sufficient supports and education put in place with a target of Ireland having the lowest abortion rate in the world. Abortion should always be the last resort and I think targeting a very low rate through proper eduction and empowerment of women, men, and children combined with proper healthcare and social supports is something both sides of this campaign can support.

Robert McCourt, retired:

I think the government will move quickly to enshrine the result into law. I think it is necessary for society to build upon this result and that the people who voted no can be encouraged to understand the result and perhaps give it some form of support.

Maeve Quinlan, student:

I hope that we can move forward and bring in the proposed legislation without conflict. I hope the no side respectfully accept this democratic result, and do not engage in hurtful and distasteful protesting outside medical centres and clinics. These protests as seen in the UK and US are misguided and aim to shame those seeking medical support.

Updated

Record turnout

Turnout has been confirmed at 64.51%, more than three points higher than in the same-sex marriage plebiscite in 2015 and a record in an Irish referendum.

Rain has started at Dublin Castle, and people are fleeing to shelter at the edges or pulling out umbrellas, reports Sinéad Baker.

But very few people are leaving. Everyone remains eager to hear the final announcement.

Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland campaigns manager, has written for the Guardian on the urgent need to now reform the abortion law there, which dates back to 1861 – literally from the Victorian era – and makes abortion illegal in almost every circumstance, even in cases of rape or fatal foetal abnormalities:

With legislation soon to follow Saturday’s result in Ireland, we may soon see women in Northern Ireland catching trains over the border rather than planes over the sea for this healthcare. But we’ll still be forced on those lonely and difficult journeys.

The UK government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this absurd situation. Westminster has the power and responsibility to bring Northern Ireland abortion law in to line with human rights standards, but is choosing instead to be complicit in our harm and suffering and is continuing to deny us equality.

For the past 16 months, Northern Ireland has been without devolved government. But this is no excuse - having a Stormont government in place would not relieve the UK government of its responsibility to ensure that women’s right to abortion is upheld. Devolution is no justification for the denial of women’s rights.

A free abortion service in England is a helpful form of remedy, but it’s not the solution. In parallel with this, we must also see a process to bring about long overdue law reform in Northern Ireland.

It is important to remember that it’s the most vulnerable and marginalised women who are unable to travel and left most at risk by the current laws. We’re talking about women who have experienced domestic violence, women without confirmed immigration status, young girls who can’t fly without an adult, and those with health complications.

Updated

Sky’s Darren McCaffrey in Donegal has a similar report to RTÉ’s from East Cork: it looks like the results from the last three constituencies (Sligo-Leitrim is the third) will be announced alongside or after the final national result.

The overall outcome, though, is not in any doubt: unofficial but generally accurate tallies suggest Donegal is the only constituency to have voted no, with yes looking a comfortable winner in East Cork and Sligo-Leitrim.

Updated

Here is the Guardian’s full video report on the day that fully two-thirds of Ireland’s voters backed the repeal of article 40.3.3, which since 1983 has effectively prohibited abortion in almost all cases:

Updated

The crowd at Dublin Castle cheers as Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald holds up a sign saying “The North is next ...” reports Sinéad Baker.

Dublin Castle crowd cheers Sinn Féinn leader’s “The North is next” banner

We’re still waiting on the final three constituencies: Cork East, Sligo-Leitrim, and Donegal, which observers are predicting may be the only one to back no.

RTÉ is reporting that the Cork County returning officer has closed the count centre in Ballincollig. The results for Cork East have reportedly been sent to Dublin Castle and will be announced after the national result.

Updated

Peter Boylan, leading yes campaigner and chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, gets a hero’s welcome in Dublin Castle, with the crowd chanting “Peter, Peter, Peter”.

Peter Boylan gets a hero’s welcome at Dublin Castle

Boylan came under fierce attack from some institute members when he claimed that the majority supported repeal, a claim he stood by earlier this month.

Updated

Offered without comment:

The 18-to-24 age group in Ireland has been strongly pro-repeal and many young people have contacted the Guardian.

One of them, Olivia Malone, 18, a student from County Wexford, canvassed during her exams for the yes campaign:

I graduated on Thursday, and was out with most of my year group till the early hours of the morning. I had a great time, but what worried me was whether my all girl’s school would drag themselves out to vote the next day.

Yet on Friday morning I woke up to texts in the 6th Year group chat - the girls were all encouraging each other to vote. The youth involvement in this has been unlike any other election I’ve ever witnessed. I’m floating on cloud nine.

I’m totally astonished by the massive landslide. The general feeling among strong yes campaigners recently was cautious hope, and I know most that I’ve talked to predicted a yes vote in the 50s, but this is beyond anything I can imagine.

If you’d like to share your reaction, you can do so here.

Updated

Dublin Bay South votes 78.49% yes, 21.51% no.

That leaves three constituencies still to declare.

The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has just tweeted this picture of himself and the expectant crowd at Dublin Castle:

Updated

The Irish comedian David O’Doherty is at Dublin castle for the announcement, reports Sinéad Baker.

He remembers growing up in an Ireland where most parts of the country voted against permitting divorce in 1995:

I always thought there was two Irelands ... but that died yesterday. It died with marriage equality and then it really died yesterday.

David O’Doherty on the historic referendum result

Updated

  • Cork South West is 64.51% yes, 35.49% no
  • Dublin Mid-West 73.27% yes, 26.73% no
  • Kerry 58.27% yes, 41.73% no

Updated

The crowd at Dublin Castle is cheering on the politicians that have been particularly active on the yes side of this campaign, including Leo Varadkar and health minister Simon Harris, says Sinéad Baker:

Crowds at Dublin Castle cheer pro-repeal politicians.

Updated

Seven constituencies remain: Kerry, Sligo-Leitrim, Cork South-West, Cork East, Dublin Mid-West, Dublin Bay South and Donegal, which observers are suggesting might be the only one to vote against repealing the eighth amendment.

With half a dozen constituencies left to declare, Ireland is turning purple:

More results:

  • Cavan-Monaghan 55.5% yes, 44.5% no
  • Mayo 57.07% yes, 42.93% no

And the Taoiseach has arrived at Dublin Castle, says RTE2’s man on the spot:

Updated

Readers in Northern Ireland have been contacting the Guardian urging abortion reform there. Aoibhinn, who’s studying for A-levels in Belfast, says she’s relieved about the result in Ireland but feels isolated as a young woman in Northern Ireland:

We are now poised to be the only place within these islands without access to abortion. I hope with all my heart that the forces that campaigned to repeal the eighth will now lend us a hand in dragging our laws into the 21st century.

Pete Doughty, a civil servant from Belfast, would like to see legislation change too:

Abortion is never, ever an easy option to choose ... I’ve seen friends of mine here in Northern Ireland having to take that decision – and then having to travel – alone, stressed, in comparative secrecy, and at great expense – to England and back, at the expense of their dignity and peace of mind.

Women in Northern Ireland have always been under the same pressure as Irish woman, but after this result they will now, tragically, stand alone. That can’t be allowed to continue.

Westminster must now step in and give Northern Irish women the right to be believed and trusted that our socially conservative politicians will always wish to deny them.

If you’d like to share your reaction, you can do so here.

Updated

Another couple of results, bringing us – according to RTÉ - up to 30 out of 40 constituencies:

  • Cork North-West 60.10% yes, 39.90% no
  • Longford-Westmeath 58.27% yes, 41.73% no

Derek Mooney, a former Fianna Fáil government adviser, has an very interesting take on the scale of the yes vote and what lay behind it:

The general assumption right up to the last week was that yes would win decisively, with a comfortable margin, leaving the no side in the low-40s nationally and tipping just over the 50% mark in the western, more rural constituencies.

Not for the first time the voters proved the pundits wrong. And the movement to yes happened long before the first posters hit the lampposts. Many traditional, middle-ground voters – including those who still see themselves as pro-life - decided some time back that it was time to take the issue of abortion out of the Irish constitution.

This referendum was about nuance, and Irish voters showed that they get nuance. So do voters in most countries. They know that very few issues are simply black or white.

Many voters, including those who had real qualms about some aspects of what the government proposes in its legislation, accepted the nuances and complexities, considered them and – on balance – accepted the case for repeal.

This is the seismic change that has happened in Ireland today. In a world that seems destined to rush to this or that easy populist position, Irish voters took the time to inform themselves. They listened to the expert opinions from all sides and weighed the arguments.

The political system afforded them that opportunity by having a long pre-campaign period where arguments, for and against, were calmly made. If only the Brexit referendum had been handled so calmly and sensibly.

Updated

Three more Dublin results are in:

  • Dublin-Fingal, 76.96% yes, 23.04% no
  • Dublin Rathdown 76.10% yes, 23.90% no
  • Dublin South-West 74.91% yes, 25.09% no

More from Sinéad Baker at the Together for Yes festivities in Dublin:

Those who flew home to vote are well represented at the yes campaign’s official gathering to watch the results.

I talked to Hannah Little, a co-founder of the London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign, two weeks ago in London and then she spoke of the importance of the result for many of the Irish living abroad.

“A lot of people have plans to go home and have a family,” she said. “I think this referendum will signal whether Ireland is a country we want to bring children up in.”

Catching up with her at today’s event, she said that today’s result would “absolutely” hearten Irish women around the world. “It shows us the country has grown up and matured. It cares about women.”

A lot women that I’ve spoken to today have expressed similar sentiments. “I’m proud to be Irish,” is a common refrain.

Updated

Dublin West has voted 74.02% for yes, 25.98% for no

Back in Roscommon, Lisa O’Carroll has met more cheerful voters – and one not so happy.

Updated

The DUP has spoken, and it’s not happy about the prospect of abortion law reform in Northern Ireland:

Another clutch of results, still all one-way traffic:

  • Dún Laoghaire 77.06% yes, 22.94% no
  • Dublin Bay North 74.69% yes, 25.31% no
  • Dublin South-Central 74.79%, 25.21%

Updated

Henry McDonald sounds a note of caution about abortion reform coming any time soon to Northern Ireland:

It is not as simple as Theresa May and the British government deciding to impose or extend the 1967 Abortion Act to the region – the only part of the UK where terminations in most cases are illegal in local hospitals.

Devolution is currently in suspended animation in a traditional orange-green row over an Irish Language Act and other cultural issues and even if the Northern Ireland assembly was restored, a majority of members oppose abortion reform especially on the unionist benches.

Pro-abortion reform parliamentarians at Westminster such as Stella Creasy could move a private member’s bill in this hiatus period of de facto direct rule from London. But when this was tried recently by another Labour MP for gay marriage equality (another social reform blocked principally by the DUP), backbench Tories refused to cooperate and the private bill fell by the wayside.

It is hard to see too how May’s minority Conservative government would agree to a free vote on introducing abortion into Northern Ireland given the power the DUP exercises at Westminster where its votes keep her in No 10 Downing Street.

The DUP would be highly likely to exert its parliamentary muscle to pressurise the Tories not to back any Labour sponsored private member’s bill when it came to the abortion question. The abortion controversy on the island of Ireland will rage on, albeit only now on the northern side of the Irish border.

Updated

RTÉ: final official result expected in one hour

Over half the constituency results are now in, and the count stands at 66% and 34%, on a record turnout of 63.9%.

The national broadcaster RTÉ says the final national results should be announced within an hour.

Two more:

  • Meath West 63.95% yes, 36.05% no
  • Galway West 65.95% yes, 34.05% no

Updated

Some readers who’ve got in touch with the Guardian have described how difficult the referendum campaign has been because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Michelle, a writer and mother of two young boys who lives in Dublin, says she was one of the “silent” yes voters:

I was one of those women, partly because of the very conservative workplace that I am employed in of but also because I did not want to offend no voters, who did not discuss my opinions. Why, I wonder now, did I not feel comfortable to speak out, to be honest, to loudly shout how passionately I felt about the need for yes? Because I grew up in an Ireland that diminished the rights of women, punished women for being unmarried mothers and in some cases incarcerated those women and removed their children from them.

When she heard the result, Michelle said:

I felt like a weight had lifted, that shame and stigma surrounding so many women in my own family had been wiped away. It was acceptable at last for a woman to make her own decisions and live her life without judgment.

Kate, a scientist and mother living in rural Ireland, said she voted yes, but reluctantly:

Yes is the right decision but discussion needs to continue regarding support for women in Ireland. We need to examine our society at a deeper level and have more discussion about factors such as contraception, social housing ... mental health. Abortion is the last resort for women. I would like to see both sides working together now to make family life better in this country and abortion as rare as possible.

If you’d like to share your reaction, you can do so here.

Updated

It looks like Donegal is shaping up to be the only place to spoil the yes campaign’s party, reportedly by a very slender margin:

Updated

More results, thick and fast. And once-conservative Roscommon confirmed as yes:

  • Limerick City 66.87% yes, 33.13%
  • Louth 66.55% yes, 33.45% no
  • Meath East 69.21% yes, 30.79% no
  • Kildare North 73.56% yes, 26.44% no
  • Dublin North-West 73.08% yes, 26.92% no
  • Roscommon-Galway 57.21% yes, 42.79% no

Updated

Ireland’s children’s minister, Katherine Zappone, has stressed to Sinéad Baker the need to enact legislation the country’s new abortion legislation as soon as possible:

The minister for health has promised to publish the bill before the summer and it would be our intention to ensure that we bring that forward before the end of this year. Until that happens women still need to travel or to take an abortion pill from online delivery that’s illegal or unsafe until we get the better law in place.

The Irish children’s minister, Katherine Zappone, speaks to Sinéad Baker

Zappone also thanked the women who had shared their stories of how they were affected by the eighth amendment:

It’s because of their willingness to tell their stories that they were able to change the hearts and the minds of the citizens but also many of the politicians too.

Updated

Another result: Offaly 58.05% yes, 41.95% no.

Updated

Calls are mounting for the British government to take steps to reform the strict abortion regime in Northern Ireland following the Republic’s historic decision.

Labour MP Stella Creasy:

This weekend 2.5 million Irish women won the basic human right to make choices themselves about their own bodies - those who fought this victory did so because these rights are at the heart of equality. Yet as we celebrate, we cannot rest knowing a million women in Northern Ireland do not have the same choice and that the UN has accused the U.K. government of cruel and inhuman treatment of their own citizens as a result. We cannot let Northern Irish women be left behind.

Cara Sanquest form the London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign:

The result today shows that the people of Ireland want to provide care and compassion at home. This was a grassroots campaign, with women’s voices at the centre. Women in Northern Ireland, who do not have access to abortion in their own country, are at the forefront of our minds today. Eleven women from the island of Ireland boarded planes this morning to access abortion services abroad. We’re looking forward to a swift passing of the legislation, and that the momentum from this result will carry on with our campaign to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.

Grainne Teggart, Northern Ireland campaigns manager for Amnesty International:

The referendum result is a momentous win for women’s rights. This marks the beginning of a new Ireland - one that really does trust and value its women. The UK Government can no longer turn a blind eye and deny us equality, they must urgently legislate for reform which must include decriminalisation of abortion. We cannot be left behind in a corner of the UK and on the island of Ireland as second-class citizens.

It’s becoming a procession:

  • Wexford has voted 68.40% for yes and 31.60% for no.
  • Limerick County 58.08% yes, 41.92% no
  • Tipperary 59.15% yes, 40.85% no
  • Kildare South 70.66% yes, 29.34% no
  • Clare 64.28% yes, 35.72% no

Updated

The president of March for Life, the US anti-abortion rally that backed the SaveThe8th campaign, has reacted with dismay to the projected result. The group’s president, Jeanne Mancini, said:

We are deeply saddened to learn that many Irish people voted against love and life by repealing the 8thamendment. Americans know from experience that there will be many grave and irreversible consequences to this decision, including the loss of precious lives.

A study released this week shows that legalising abortion greatly increases the number of children whose lives are terminated in the womb. Though they are the first, unborn children are not the only victims; abortion harms mothers too.

Life is the empowering decision. We grieve for the great loss this beautiful country will endure and we pray that they find a way to reverse this unfortunate decision.

Another result is in: Laois 61.35% yes, 38.65% no

They’re having a ball down at Dublin Castle, too:

Updated

Sinéad Baker is with the Together for Yes campaign who have gathered yes campaigners in a Dublin hotel to watch the results come in.

A diverse crowd of hundreds of people have gathered. Local organisers from all parts of the country are here with their teams alongside the politicians and students who have been key to the campaign.

Results coming in are met with huge cheers and some stunned disbelief. Listen to the delight as Carlow-Kilkenny votes 63.5% yes:

Sinéad Baker hears Together for Yes campaigners cheer another positive result

Updated

And another. With seven constituencies declared, the vote now stands at 68.7% in favour of repeal overall.

  • Waterford 69.43% yes, 30.57% no

Updated

Two more results have come in, again in line with last night’s exit polls:

  • Wicklow 74.26% yes, 25.74% no
  • Carlow-Kilkenny, 63.50% yes, 36.50% no

Updated

Orla O’Connor, co-director of the Together for Yes campaign, celebrates “a monumental day for women in Ireland”, saying the expected referendum vote is “about a rejection of an Ireland that treats women as second-class citizens”.

Readers have been getting in touch to share their reaction to the result.

Chelsea, a student teacher in Dublin, is very happy that the yes vote was so high. “I’m over the moon to know that Ireland has voted so strongly in favour of removing legislation that is potentially damaging to women and families in our country. I think it’s an overwhelming turn out for a referendum and proves the importance of making a change.”

Philomena Mason, 62, from Galway says “it’s a wonderful day for Ireland”. Mason voted against the amendment being included in the constitution in 1983 and thinks the change has come about about because of the testimony of women during this referendum campaign.

“A lot of women have told harrowing stories of crisis pregnancies where they had no option but to travel to the UK for terminations and felt strongly that this care should be made available in their own country.”

Nick, a junior doctor who lives in Ireland, thinks that the result is a huge win for women, doctors and legislators so that it will now be possible “to provide healthcare, compassion and support at home rather than turning our backs on people in need”.

Rossa Bunworth, 67, a retired public servant from Dublin says he’s “stunned and delighted as a parent and grandparent of women and girls who are trusted at last”.

If you’d like to share your reaction, you can do so here.

Updated

Sinéad Baker in Dublin has spoken to a proud and happy local:

And here is an opposing point of view:

Updated

The crowds are starting to assemble at Dublin Castle, where Ireland’s health minister, Simon Harris, is speaking, RTÉ reports:

Updated

The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, has told the BBC that “action will now have to be taken” over Northern Ireland, set to be the only part of the UK and Ireland where abortions are outlawed bar exceptional circumstances:

I believe in the principle of the right to choose - I think in the rest of the UK we have a sensible balance. The position in Northern Ireland is now highly anomalous and I think, probably, action will now have to be taken.

Since there is, effectively, direct rule from Westminster, the government has responsibility and it can and should take the opportunity to deal with this issue properly.

The official turnout has been given as 62.2%, an increase of 2% over Ireland’s referendum on same-sex marriage:

Cork North-Central is in: 64.02% for yes, 35.98% for no.

Updated

Here’s what the count looks like in Roscommon-Galway, and presumably a good many counting centres up and down the country this afternoon:

We’ve had two more official results showing a clear lead for repeal:

  • Dublin Central: Yes 76.51%, No 23.49%
  • Cork South-Central: Yes 68.84%, No 31.16%

The Guardian’s Henry McDonald is at Dublin Castle where the official results will be announced later today:

Unlike the result of the same-sex marriage equality referendum three years ago, there will be no giant screens on display at Dublin Castle today broadcasting the overall national result of the vote to legalise abortion.

Although no one is saying it too loudly, I understand “security reasons” have convinced the authorities at the former seat of British power in Ireland not to hold a giant screening of the main result this afternoon.

These were based on concerns about possible ugly scenes emerging between yes and no camp followers arguing on the cobblestones of the ancient square.

Which all seems a bit much given firstly that there appear to be few supporters of the no campaign around at present, and secondly, that despite some minor incidents the 2018 referendum has not been marred by ugly, fractious scenes on the campaign trail.

Updated

First official constituency result

The first official constituency result is in, from Galway East:

The British government cannot ignore the expected massive endorsement for abortion reform in the Irish Republic while a near total ban on terminations remains over the border in Northern Ireland, Amnesty International has said.

While describing the projected victory for the yes side as a “momentous win for women’s rights” the global human rights group said their counterparts in Northern Ireland were “still prosecuted by a Victorian-era abortion ban”.

Northern Ireland is now the only region in the UK where the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply, said Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland campaign manager:

It’s hypocritical, degrading and insulting to Northern Irish women that we are forced to travel for vital healthcare services but cannot access them at home. The UK government can no longer turn a blind eye and deny us equality. We cannot be left behind in a corner of the UK and on the island of Ireland as second-class citizens.

The UK’s supreme court is soon expected to make a ruling on a case considering whether the regional abortion ban breaches Northern Irish women’s rights. And in September the court in London will hear the case of a mother who is being prosecuted for buying abortion pills for her daughter.

Updated

More from Lisa O’Carroll who has spoken to some overjoyed and tearful yes voters in traditionally conservative Roscommon:

Updated

Varadkar says he hopes abortion will be legal in Ireland by year-end

Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has said he hopes laws to allow abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy would be in place in Ireland by the end of the year, with the expected referendum results giving the government “a clear mandate” to do so.

Vardkar told national broadcaster RTÉ the expected landslide for yes was the “culmination of a quiet revolution”, adding that the expected two-to-one backing for constitutional reform to liberalise abortion laws showed the country was not divided.

“We are united,” he said, and the referendum “allows us as a nation to come of age”.
Health minister Simon Harris, who was at the vanguard of the government campaign, said he always knew Irish people were “decent and compassionate”.

Updated

In traditionally conservative Roscommon/East Galway, the first unofficial tally is showing 57% for yes and 43% for no, reports the Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll.

Lisa has spoken to one voter who explained that in this constituency, the “shy” vote was in favour of repeal in the eighth amendment, not saving it:

Updated

Ireland’s minister for children and youth affairs has said she is grateful and emotional at voters’ apparent overwhelming decision to repeal the eighth amendment.

Katherine Zappone said she was confident new abortion legislation could be approved by parliament and put in place before the end of the year:

I feel very emotional. I’m especially grateful to the women of Ireland who came forward to provide their personal testimony about the hard times that they endured, the stress and the trauma that they experienced because of the eighth amendment.

Updated

Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said the expected overwhelming win for the yes side was the “culmination of a quiet revolution in Ireland”.

The taoiseach said this process of change for women had started over a number of decades. “We will have a modern constitution for a modern country,” he said, adding that the predicted outcome also demonstrated that Ireland was not sharply divided by the abortion issue any longer.

Meanwhile his deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, said the exit polls showed the result “was not a Dublin versus the rest” situation. Coveney said the predicted rural-urban split over the referendum had not materialised.

Updated

Cabinet approval for legal text to be sought as early as Tuesday

Ireland’s health minister, Simon Harris, has said he will ask for formal cabinet approval as early as this Tuesday to turn the government’s draft abortion law into a formal legislative text, Sky News is reporting:

Updated

While the yes camp appears to be decisively ahead in most constituencies, the vote appears to be neck-and-neck in rural Donegal.

The ballot boxes have now been emptied but there is no decisive result as yet, the BBC’s reporter in Letterkenny, Erinn Louise Kerr, reports:

Updated

Ivana Bacik, an Irish Labour party senator and leading light of the campaign to repeal the eight amendment, has written for the Guardian about her reaction to the anticipated referendum result and why she thinks it happened:

How did we succeed? Over the many weeks of this long campaign, I have been out canvassing extensively for a yes, in Dublin and elsewhere. The growing public awareness of the immense harm and hardship caused by the eighth amendment became increasingly apparent to me over the campaign.

In truth, many people in Ireland had already recognised the reality that the eighth amendment represented an absolute bar to any lifting of the prohibition on abortion, even in cases of rape, risk to women’s health or fatal foetal abnormality ... Over the years, public opinion had thus shifted towards supporting repeal.

The government’s proposed legislation was vociferously opposed by no campaigners, who argued it would lead to “abortion on demand” and it was dangerous to leave the job of making law to elected legislators, on the basis that “politicians can’t be trusted” – a profoundly populist and anti-democratic argument.

The resounding yes vote we appear to have now achieved shows that the majority of Irish citizens simply rejected the scaremongering tactics of the no side. It shows that as a society we recognise the need for our democratically elected legislators to introduce an appropriate legal framework for the regulation of lawful termination of pregnancy.

As a student campaigner in the 1980s I was taken to court and threatened with prison for distributing information to Irish women on where to access abortion. I am very grateful to my fellow Irish citizens who appear to have voted so overwhelmingly for a more democratic, equal and progressive Ireland.

You can read the full article here.

Updated

Leading no campaigner John McGuirk, communications officer for Save the 8th, has posted a message on his Facebook page for all who voted to keep Ireland’s strict anti-abortion laws.

Today will be a “hard and difficult day”, but he says no one should give up:

Like many of you I am broken-hearted about the apparent result, and it’s many implications, which go way beyond abortion.

I fear that over the coming years, more and more women and their families will sadly learn that it was never the journey that was lonely, but the decision, and that it was not the country that is cruel, but the decision.

Thank you all, so much, for your work and your friendship. Today will be a hard and difficult day, but hold your heads high. It is never wrong to speak up for what you believe in. It is wrong to stay silent, and especially wrong to stay silent when the crowd is totally against you. I will never stay silent. I hope the rest of you will join me.

If you voted no, be proud, and defiant. Now is the time when your voice is needed more than ever.

Updated

Expecting a close result, one Dublin students’ union hosted a “chill village” that provided a “quiet space” where students could “de-stress” while watching the result, writes Sinéad Baker from Dublin.

But after the hugely encouraging signs for yes, it appeared many students found that they didn’t need it. From those here, the results coming in are met with huge cheers.

The welfare officer of the students’ union at Trinity College, Damien McClean, said the union had expected a closer result and a lot of stressed students:

Trinity college student union welfare officer Damien McClean speaks to Sinéad Baker.

“It’s better that we have these spaces open and they’re not used and they’re not needed to be used rather than not have them in the first place,” McClean said.

Updated

Opposition Fianna Fail leader promises backing

The leader of Ireland’s main Irish opposition party, Fianna Fail, has insisted his anti-abortion parliamentarians will “not stand in the way of the will of the Irish people” and block legislation leading to abortion up to 12 weeks.

Micheal Martin gambled with his leadership by coming out in favour of a yes vote even though 32 of his Dail deputies were on the no side in the campaign. The RTÉ exit poll breakdown of political parties’ attitudes to the referendum also found that a small majority of Fianna Fail voters, 50.3%, backed the no camp in Friday’s poll.

But speaking his native Cork City on Saturday morning, Martin said he believed that members of the Dail would have to “honour the will of the people” and allow for the passage of the government’s planned legislation.

Martin said it was now clear from the two exit polls that Ireland had “emphatically passed” the referendum and that his party should back the Fine Gael-led government to legalise abortion.

Updated

Roscommon, which was considered a bellwether for the “no” camp, has confounded all expectations with tallies currently showing a 57% victory for yes.

MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, a former TD for the constituency said he always knew voters would come out in favour of repeal: “I always knew voters were not conservative – they are just a bit complicated.”

MEP Luke Ming Flanagan speaks to Lisa O’Caroll

Updated

Ireland’s health minister, Simon Harris, sums up for RTÉ Radio what the expected referendum result will mean for the successors of the tens of thousands of Irish women who have had to travel abroad for an abortion:

Updated

How the count works

The count began shortly after 9am and is now well under way, with ballots from the 40 constituencies being tallied at 26 centres around the country.

At the same time, unofficial tallies – which give an accurate picture of the result, and are so far confirming the exit polls’ forecast of a landslide for yes – are being kept and released piecemeal through the day.

First official results are expected from early afternoon, with local returning officers reporting their constituency results to the referendum returning officer who will will formally declare the national result at Dublin Castle when all 40 constituencies are in.

In past referendums, according to the national broadcaster RTÉ, the overall result has been declared as early as 2.15pm, and as late as 7pm.

Updated

More from the streets of Dublin from Sinéad Baker:

The relief is palpable from those who were hoping for a yes victory. Signs are already been taken down at one Temple Bar shop, where manager Mark Ryan says the shop sold out of repeal mechanise before the vote.

Andanappa Yalagi, the father of Savita Halappanavar, who died of sepsis in Galway in 2012 after being denied an abortion during a protracted miscarriage, said he was “very happy today”.

Speaking to Harriet Sherwood by phone from his home in Karnataka, in south-west India, Yalagi said:

We’ve got justice for Savita. What happened to her will not happen to any other family. I have no words to express my gratitude to the people of Ireland at this historic moment.

Halappanavar’s death galvanised the movement to repeal the eighth amendment. Prof Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, who chaired an official investigation into her death, called on voters this week to back the repeal, saying it tied doctors’ hands.

She was 17 weeks pregnant when she died at the age of 31.

Sinéad Baker is out and about on the streets of Dublin, where the mood is “very positive”, she reports:

People are struggling to articulate exactly how they’re feeling, but relief seems to be the dominant emotion, particularly for those who have been campaigning for years.

Sarah Brennan is celebrating in Temple Bar today with her sister and nephew. “I’ve been working towards this for quite a while,” she said. “It’s amazing. It shows that Ireland is moving on. Women don’t have to tell their stories anymore, and that’s important.”

What will Ireland's new abortion law look like, and how does it compare?

The eighth amendment – article 40.3.3 of the Irish constitution – will be replaced with a clause stating: “Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.”

The Irish government is planning to bring legislation before the Dáil providing for abortion on request up to the 12th week of pregnancy with a three-day “cooling-off” period before abortion medication is administered.

Between 12 and 24 weeks, abortion will only be available in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, a risk to a woman’s life or a risk of serious harm to the health of the mother. After 24 weeks, termination will be possible in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.

There will be provision for conscientious objection among medical practitioners, although doctors will be obliged to transfer care of the pregnant woman to another doctor.

How does this compare to elsewhere?

Most European countries allow abortion on request up to 12 weeks. Iceland permits it up to 16 weeks, Sweden 18 weeks and the Netherlands 22 weeks.

Abortion is banned in all circumstances in Malta, and in Poland and Cyprus it is only permitted in cases of grave risk to the health of the mother, fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest.

In the UK, abortions can be carried out up to 24 weeks with the agreement of two doctors. Abortions after 24 weeks are allowed only if the woman’s life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe abnormality.

The conservative government of Poland, which already has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, has proposed tightening it further by banning abortion in cases of severe foetal disorders, including Down’s syndrome.

Several US states are also tightening access to abortion. Abortion is completely prohibited in El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and highly restricted in many other South American countries.

Updated

The projected yes victory looks like a foregone conclusion if social media mentions are anything to go by.

The online data analysts Meltwater crunched two days’ of social media conversations around the world on Thursday and Friday – the day of the referendum – and found the Repealthe8th hashtag was 11 times more popular than the no hashtag:

#RepealThe8th/#Repeal8th – total number of mentions: 335,373

Trending themes: Ireland, women, abortion, abortion pill, sink, jail sentence, vote, #hometovote, freedom, jail sentence

Geographical spread: UK, Ireland, US, Australia, Canada

#SaveTheEighth/#savethe8th – total number of mentions: 30,450

Trending themes: Ireland, life, abortion, human life, people, vote, amendment, pray, young Irish women, child

Geographical spread: US, Ireland, UK, Canada, Australia

#HometoVote – total number of mentions: 192,142

Trending themes: Ireland, today, women, abortion, Savita Halappanvar, pregnancy, doctors, sepsis, Dublin airport

Updated

The international organisation that sponsored two Irish women who sued the government at the UN over being forced to have abortions abroad said the projected yes victory would give hope to women across the world today.

The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which backed – among others – Amanda Mellet’s complaint to the UN, said the expected yes vote “would reverberate globally for years to come”. Leah Hoctor, the regional director for Europe at the CRR, said:

If the referendum passes it will mark a historic moment for the women of Ireland. Irish laws on abortion have long been among the most restrictive in the world and wholly out of step with legislation in almost every other European country … Women living in counties with highly restrictive abortion laws would have cause for hope that significant change can be achieved.

Updated

Save the 8th campaign concedes defeat

Save the 8th, which led the no campaign, has effectively conceded defeat, saying in a statement on its website that Irish voters have perpetrated “a tragedy of historic proportions”.

The 8th amendment did not create a right to life for the unborn child – it merely acknowledged that such a right exists, has always existed, and will always exist.

What Irish voters did yesterday is a tragedy of historic proportions. However, a wrong does not become right simply because a majority support it.

We are so proud of all of those who stood with us in this campaign: our supporters, our donors, our families and our loved ones. This campaign took a huge personal toll on all of us who were involved, and we have been so grateful for their support.

The unborn child no longer has a right to life recognised by the Irish state. Shortly, legislation will be introduced that will allow babies to be killed in our country. We will oppose that legislation. If and when abortion clinics are opened in Ireland, because of the inability of the government to keep their promise about a GP-led service, we will oppose that as well. Every time an unborn child has his or her life ended in Ireland, we will oppose that, and make our voices known.

Abortion was wrong yesterday. It remains wrong today. The constitution has changed, but the facts have not.

Updated

More pressure is being placed on Northern Ireland over its restrictive abortion law from Clare Murphy, the external affairs director at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

Ireland’s voters have shown that denying women the right to abortion services in their own country in 2018 is not acceptable, she said.

This is a momentous step forward that is long overdue. For decades, Irish women have been forced to travel hundreds of miles to our clinics in England, often alone, at a huge personal and emotional cost.

The result, once confirmed, means that the Irish government can bring an end to this suffering, and legislate to provide the care women need at home. Now more than ever it is time for the UK government to show the same respect for the women of Northern Ireland.

Updated

The Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll is watching the count in Roscommon, traditionally one of Ireland’s most conservative counties, and reports that even there, the yes campaign looks to be doing well.

Updated

The Irish capital is expected to return one of the highest proportions of yes votes in the country. The Irish Times reports that with 23% of ballot boxes open in Dublin Bay South, 79% are for yes and 21% for no. Dublin Central has 46% of boxes open, with 76% in favour of repealing the eighth and 24% against.

Updated

The detail of the RTÉ exit poll shows Ireland has profoundly changed its attitudes towards women, with most voters saying they had made up their minds to repeal abortion laws years ago, reports Lisa O’Carroll.

It showed little gender difference in voting, with only one in 10 saying they were influenced by posters or religion, and more than 75% saying they had not changed their mind on abortion in the past five years – suggesting support for reform far predated the announcement of a referendum two months ago.

Colm O’Gorman, the head of Amnesty International in Ireland, which campaigned for a yes vote, said expectations had been that the count would be close, but attitude surveys it conducted in 2015 had shown deep changes in thinking on abortion.

More than 80% said they had not changed their minds on how they were going to vote during the campaign, and more than three-quarters said they were influenced by personal stories they had heard in the media, or from people they knew.

Eight percent said they were influenced by the death of Savita Halappanavar during complications in her pregnancy in Galway in 2015.

You can read Lisa’s full report here.

Updated

Last night’s Irish Times exit poll showed a whopping 87% of 18 to 24-year-olds supported a yes vote, reports Sinéad Baker.

The president of the Union of Students in Ireland, Michael Kerrigan, who represents more than 374,000 students, said:

We are delighted, but not at all surprised by the reported turnout of young people. We had predicted earlier in the week that this would be the largest youth vote in the history of the state, with a large majority voting yes. This is an issue that has been debated on campuses since the mid-1970s and has really intensified in the last couple of years. The exit poll suggests this issue was not as divisive as reported and that repeal was supported across generations.

The union has been pushing for repeal of the eighth amendment for years, and has been a constant presence at marches and demonstrations. It directly registered more than 25,000 students to vote in the run-up to the referendum.

The idea that Ireland is a conservative country seems to be melting away. When it comes to referendums on social issues, Ireland has not voted for the conservative option since 1983.

Over that time, both the rural/urban divide and the generation gap have slowly closed. When the country voted in favour of permitting divorce in 1995, it did so by 9,000 votes and only five constituencies outside Dublin voted in favour.

In the 2015 plebiscite on same-sex marriage, the rural/urban divide vanished, and cross-generational support was clear – and it looks like this is the case again in 2018.

Updated

The expected result in the Irish referendum is likely to put significant pressure on politicians in Northern Ireland to review its highly restrictive regime, reports Harriet Sherwood.

If the repeal of the eighth amendment is confirmed and followed by legislation to permit abortion on request up to the 12th week of pregnancy, Northern Ireland will be the only place in the UK and Ireland – and most of Europe – where terminations are outlawed except for the most exceptional circumstances.

UK politicians acknowledged that Northern Ireland would come under the spotlight as the exit polls landed. Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, who also holds the equalities brief, tweeted:

And Owen Smith, the former shadow Northern Ireland secretary, had this to say:

You can read Harriet’s full story here.

Updated

One of the key cases influencing the debate on abortion in Ireland was that of the Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died of sepsis at a hospital in Galway after being denied an abortion during a protracted miscarriage.

Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, claimed she requested a termination but was refused because the baby’s heart was still beating.

A midwife manager at Galway university hospital confirmed she told Halappanavar a termination could not be carried out because Ireland was a “Catholic country”.

Updated

Anti-abortion “Save the Eighth” campaigners had warned “extreme” legislation would soon follow if the amendment were repealed, but the Irish government’s proposed new regime is comparable to that in most European countries and stricter than several.

Leah Hoctor, the regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told Euronews this year that that 25 of the EU’s 28 member states permit abortion “either on a woman’s request, without restriction as to reason or for reasons of distress, or on broad socioeconomic or psychological grounds, at least in early pregnancy”.

Abortion in most European countries is more or less freely available during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The Irish Times has the full list towards the bottom of its excellent “Abortion: the Facts” page.

Updated

Here’s what the count looks like up close, from Sunday Business’ Hugh O’Connell.

And the Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll is at the count in Roscommon.

Updated

So why did the yes campaign win so convincingly? The Guardian’s Ireland correspondent, Henry McDonald, offers his first take, identifying four key reasons:

The first is the loss of political power in the pulpit since the early 1990s, when a series of scandals started to beset the Irish Catholic hierarchy. From Archbishop Eamonn Casey raiding the funds of his diocese to look after his lover and his son, to the Irish state trying to prevent the extradition of a serial paedophile priest for his crimes in Northern Ireland, the last decade of the 20th century charted a catastrophic loss of trust and authority on the part of bishops and cardinals.

Worse was to come as a raft of public inquiries revealed the industrial scale of sexual and physical abuse, as well as the economic exploitation of young children in the Catholic church’s care. It was telling that by the time of the referendum, the majority of no campaigners on public platforms and media outlets were lay people rather than priests, bishops or cardinals.

Secondly, there were the hard cases where the grim realities of abortion choices came up against theological and moral objections – from the 1992 X scandal, where some in the anti-abortion movement wanted to prevent a 14-year-old girl from travelling out of the state to have an abortion after being raped, to the plight of Savita Halappanavar, who died from sepsis in the womb in an Irish hospital six years ago after medics refused to grant her demand for a termination, prompting the UN to denounce the practice of forcing women to leave their country to obtain terminations as “cruel and inhumane”.

Thirdly, there appears to have been an underlying message coming from the doorsteps from most voters. The Irish electorate recognised finally that this referendum was not really about if women were having abortions, but where they were taking place.

Yes campaigners reported that the view was commonplace that if women were already having terminations, they might as well have them at home rather than abroad. Irish people had become more pragmatic and less theocratic in the way they viewed the question.

Finally, there was the strategic ineptitude of the no camp. Aside from accusations that anti-abortion campaigners were being financed by the American Christian right, there was undoubtedly evidence that they had tried to adopt the electoral tactics of US conservatism, appearing to believe that if the Irish Catholic conservative heartlands could be equally fired up to vote in large numbers, the anti-abortion coalition would have enough to just marginally win.

What they appear to have overlooked is that this base is much thinner and less ideologically inclined than the bible-belt millions of the American south and mid-west. The Irish version is an ageing, declining population.

Updated

Seismic, stunning, emphatic and overwhelming are some of the words being used to describe the projected result in Ireland’s abortion referendum on removing a 35-year-old ban from the constitution.

With two exit polls from the Irish Times and RTÉ showing about 70% of the country voted yes, the anticipated referendum outcome seems indicative of profound underlying change in Irish society that was taking root long before campaigning started eight weeks ago.

Fresh details on the RTE exit poll showed the only group voting to save the eighth amendment were the over-65s. Farmers and rural voters, traditionally considered more conservative, all voted yes.

Updated

The leaders of the main political parties supported a yes vote – but not all of them have their party members behind them, writes Sinéad Baker.

As taoiseach and the leader of Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar campaigned vocally for repeal, describing abortion in Ireland as “unsafe, unregulated and unlawful”. He has the support of most of his party’s TDs. All Labour’s TDs supported yes, as did Sinn Féin’s, in line with the parties’ official lines.

The repeal campaign was bolstered when the leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, came out in favour of yes. The surprise announcement was seen as evidence that a fundamental shift had taken place in Ireland, with Martin saying the eighth amendment “has been shown to cause real damage to Irish women”.

But the majority of his party’s elected representatives advocated for a no vote.

Such a high level of political support for a change to the constitution would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But it did allow the no campaign to present itself as having something of an anti-establishment position – despite strong support from many politicians and the Catholic church.

Updated

Reaction, too, from Amanda Mellet, one of three Irish women who successfully persuaded the UN to denounce Ireland’s abortion ban as “cruel and inhumane”, who says the expected yes vote will represent “real closure”.

Mellet and her husband, James, took a case in 2013 against the Irish government to the UN’s human rights committee after the couple were forced to obtain a termination for her pregnancy in England.

Had she remained in the Irish Republic, she would have been forced to give birth to a baby who would be born dead, as she was suffering from a fatal foetal abnormality in pregnancy. She also became the first woman in Ireland to receive financial compensation from the Irish state. Speaking from Kilkenny, Mellet said:

Even when we won our case at the UN in June 2016, it never felt like any proper closure for myself or James. We were not even sure back then that the government would even hold a referendum.

When James and I voted on Friday morning, it did finally feel like real closure for the both of us. We had campaigned along with so many in the Terminations For Medical Reasons group for change, and now we are, hopefully, going to get it.

Whilst I am superstitious normally, I think that it will be a yes vote and for the first time in a very long time, I feel comfortable here in Ireland. We all put so much energy and emotion into the campaign over the years, but now we can say a chapter in our lives is finally closing … if as it looks it’s going to be yes.”

Updated

What does the eighth amendment actually say – and what would it be replaced by?

The eighth amendment was inserted into the Irish constitution after a referendum in 1983. Abortion had been illegal in Ireland since the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861, but with many European countries opting to permit terminations on request until 12 weeks or more, campaigners sought the security of a constitutional amendment.

The amendment states:

The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

If the eighth is repealed, the relevant clause of the constitution – 40.3.3 – will be replaced by the phrase:

Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.

Updated

Reactions to the exit polls – which forecast a far wider margin of victory for the yes vote that was widely expected – have been coming in thick and fast, starting late last night.

Here’s the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar:

And the health minister, Simon Harris:

And the leader of the no campaign, John McGuirk:

And the actor and comedian Aisling Bea, a leading light in the yes campaign:

Updated

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage on what looks set to be a historic day for Ireland as votes are counted in its abortion referendum.

Last night’s shock exit polls suggested a landslide vote for change, with an overwhelming majority of voters backing the repeal of a 1983 constitutional amendment that has led to one of the strictest abortion regimes in the world.

An Irish Times/Ipsos poll forecast a margin of 68% to 32% in favour of repealing the eighth amendment, while a poll for the national broadcaster RTÉ predicted an even bigger margin of 69.4% to 30.6%.

Turnout was on course to be one of the highest for a referendum in Ireland, possibly topping the 61% who voted in the plebiscite that backed same-sex marriage in 2015.

Acknowledging an equal right to life for both the unborn child and the mother, the eighth amendment effectively prohibited termination in almost all cases, including rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality.

Abortion when a mother’s life is at risk has been permitted since 2013, but in all other circumstances, doctors performing unlawful abortions face up to 14 years in prison.

As a result, about 3,500 Irish women have travelled abroad, mostly to the UK, each year to terminate their pregnancies, and an estimated 2,000 more buy abortion pills online, administering them at home without medical supervision.

If the exit polls prove accurate and the eighth amendment is repealed, the government plans to table a new law allowing abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Terminations will be permitted up to 24 weeks if the woman’s health is threatened.

We will be bringing you live reports, analysis and reaction through the day until the result is confirmed (it’s expected some time this afternoon), including from our reporters @lisaocarroll ‏ @_EmmaGH @sineadbaker1 and @henrymcdonald.

Updated

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