Irish Politics Thread

How much of a margin is needed to avoid a second round?

It needs to be over 50% to pass, so fingers crossed.

But how can it go to another round or run off? Is there a third option people can choose? Or was Geekcodered just mentioning the possibility of a failure and another attempt down the road?

No, officially whether it passes or fails, that's it, the end of the referendum.

But being realistic, gay marriage will be introduced at some stage in the future, even if it's fifty years away, so if it fails this time, we'll have to have another referendum at some stage in the future.

When will exit polls become available, if at all?

Voting finishes at ten, so probably around then, but to be honest, I don't know if they'll be a great judge. There's a lot of pressure to vote yes, I can see a lot of people pretending they voted yes in this one. I could be wrong on that, I don't know.

I think RTÉ only releases the exit polls the next morning, where counting starts.

No counting through the night? You fecking casuals.

Well, they start counting at 10am Saturday. We'll know by like 6pm at the latest.

So, the counting would finish at 6am if we counted as soon as polls closed.

Is that just for referendums that they start at 10? Cause I remember them counting through the night a few years back.

Edit-Oh feck, bimbo moment, that was for the general elections. They take forever to count, they were probably counting through the night after, not the night before. XD

edited 22nd May '15 11:27:21 AM by QueenPanic

So far, six constituencies have declared: Sligo/North Leitrim at 53.6% Yes, Galway East at 53.3% Yes, Meath West at 60.1% Yes, Wicklow at 68.4% Yes, Waterford at 60.3% Yes, and Cork South/Central at 65.8% Yes.

And as I write this, Kildare North has declared: 69.7% Yes.

Overall: 62.4% Yes, 37.6% No. 2,404 votes spoiled, 61% Turnout.

You guys'll probably make it, then.

Meath East and Mayo are in: 63.6% Yes and 52% Yes, respectively.

Well, by this point, I'll just say: welcome to the club, fellow Irish tropers.

Does your referendum contemplate same-sex adoption, btw?

edited 23rd May '15 7:56:14 AM by Quag15

Longford/Westmeath and Cork North/Central just in: 53.6% Yes, and 63.8% Yes.

Laws were passed before the referendum.

edited 23rd May '15 7:56:45 AM by GeekCodeRed

Is anywhere likely to vote no?

Tallies are saying that Roscommon/South Leitrim might vote No. Longford on it's own voted No, but Westmeath pushed it across the line.

Wexford has come in: 63.6% Yes.

That's 12 of 43 constituencies in. The most prominent No Campaigners conceded defeat a couple of hours ago.

EDIT: Dublin Mid-West, Dublin South-West and Limerick County are all in: 70.9% Yes, 71.3% Yes, and 54.7% Yes.

EDIT: Dublin West is in: 70.6% Yes.

EDIT: Tipperary South: 56.1% Yes. Kildare South: 66.2% Yes. Tipperary North: 54.7% Yes.

EDIT: DONEGAL NORTH-EAST: 52.5% YES.
For context, Dongeal always votes No at every referendum.

EDIT: Louth: 63.5% Yes. Galway West: 61.5% Yes.

EDIT: DONEGAL SOUTH-WEST: 50.1% YES.
33 votes between the two sides there.

EDIT: ROSCOMMON/SOUTH LEITRIM VOTES NO. 51.4% No, 48.6% Yes.

EDIT: Dublin South East: 74.9% Yes.

EDIT: Dublin South: 69.9% Yes.

EDIT: Dun Laoighre: 71.6% Yes.

EDIT: Kerry North/West Limerick: 55.5% Yes. Limerick City (my constituency): 64.1% Yes.

edited 23rd May '15 9:02:12 AM by GeekCodeRed

With 32 of 43 constituencies declared, here's the recap:

• Yes: 62.3% or 900,437 people.
• No: 37.7% or 544,607 people.
• Turnout: 60.5% or 1,455,418 people.
• Spoiled Votes: 10,347
• Highest Yes: Dublin South-East, 74.9%.
• Highest No: Roscommon/South Leitrim, 51.4%.
• Highest Turnout: Wicklow, 68.8%.

Latest declarations are Carlow/Kilkenny: 56.2%. Dublin Central: 72.4%. Dublin North-Central: 68.9%.

EDIT: Laois/Offaly: 56.8% Yes. Cavan/Monaghan: 50.6% Yes.

EDIT: Dublin North: 72.6% Yes.

EDIT: Dublin North-West: 70.6% Yes. Clare: 58.3% Yes. Dublin South-Central: 72.3% Yes. Kerry South: 55.3% Yes.

EDIT: Dublin North-East: 66.7% Yes.

edited 23rd May '15 9:55:03 AM by GeekCodeRed

So we might not be letting our gay 22 year olds run for president, but at least they can get married now.

Absolutely delighted with the gay marriage result, and so proud of my country. How great is it to see us be the first country to vote yes on this issue? We're not the little backward country people might think, we're world firsts hahahaha.

How are you world firsts? Plenty of countries have legalised gay marriage by now... Were you the first to have a referendum?

They also have a law that passed adoption by same-sex couples, according to Geek Code Red. Portugal hasn't approved that kind of law so far (fifth time's the charm?).

edited 23rd May '15 4:43:24 PM by Quag15

Gay couples have the right to adopt in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Norway, and Argentina.

I'm not sure about other countries that are on this path but the Finnish Parliament passed a bill last year that will, when it becomes law (probably 2017 at the latest), allow gay marriage. That bill doesn't mention adoption (AFAIK) but a majority of Finns are in favour of the right of gay people to adopt children so getting that is also just a matter of time. We are falling behind on civil rights, though; Finland was the first country in Europe to allow women to vote and to stand as candidates in elections, and the first in the world to elects female members of Parliament. We have been slower with gay rights, though.

We're the first country to introduce gay marriage after a referendum on the issue. We as Irish people decided on this, not just our government. It was good, it meant instead of having to hear campaigners on both sides estimate the numbers of people who supported it and then talk about what they imagine Irish people think, we got the real life numbers, and know the truth about how Irish people feel on the issue.

And since it's been added to the constitution(rather than just becoming legislation), and the constitution can only be changed via referendum, that's it, it's a part of our country, and it's here to stay forever. ^* Well, unless we have another referendum, but that's not going to happen, so it's very safe. Future governments can't touch it.

How each constituency voted.◊ The red one is Roscommon-Leitrim, but it's worth noting that, like Geek Code Red said, Donegal South West(the bigger of the two constituencies in the top left hand corner beside NI) had only about 30 votes in the difference between yes and no.

edited 23rd May '15 5:12:39 PM by QueenPanic

In Finland gay marriage was brought to the Parliament through a citizens' initiative that got the 50 000 signatures required in less than a day. I imagine it's similar in many (maybe most) of the other countries that have passed legislation on this.

Still, congratulations for being a first in getting an actual referendum. It leaves even less room for complaint than a combination of polls and citizens' initiatives or Parliamentary votes.