Referendum results underline changed outlook

CONFOUNDING the expectations of many political pundits, voters in Kerry backed the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in even greater numbers than when they voted to legalise same sex marriage three years ago.

While many commentators had predicted that the Repeal referendum would be extremely tight the story, in Kerry as elsewhere, was the exact opposite.

Proving that voters in Kerry are just as liberal-minded as their city counterparts, they backed repeal by a margin of 58 to 42 per cent.

Though the abortion issue remains far more emotive than gay marriage, support for ‘Repeal’ in Kerry last Friday was actually higher than the vote in favour of marriage equality back in May 2015.

On that occasion, voters in Kerry’s two constituencies backed same sex marriage by a margin of 55 to 45 per cent, three per cent below ‘Repeal’s’ winning margin in the Kingdom on Saturday.

In a similar fashion to the rest of the country – with the exception of Donegal – the result was a reversal of the 1983 result that gave the people of Ireland the Eighth Amendment in the first place.

In 1983, voters in Kerry North backed the addition of the ‘right to life’ to the constitution by a ratio of 77 to 23 per cent. Support for the Eighth was even higher in Kerry South with almost 82 per cent of voters in favour of the amendment.

A small crowd - mainly consisting of pro-repeal campaigners – awaits the announcement of Kerry’s final result at the referendum count centre in Killarney on Saturday afternoon.