Kerry votes ‘Yes’ in Blasphemy referendum

MORE than 1,000 spoilt votes were recorded in the blasphemy referendum in Kerry - almost double that of the presidential election count. This may indicate just how unnoticed the referendum was in the lead-up to the vote on Friday.

Kerry voted to remove the term blasphemy from the referendum with 57.6% of votes in favour of the proposal.

All 40 constituencies voted to remove this from the constitution in a display of national consensus not often seen in Irish referendum votes.

The final result in Kerry was carried by a majority of 7,500 votes with 28,373 voting in favour of removing it.

There was 20,873 votes against removing it or 42.4% of votes cast. The electorate was 111,777 and the total valid poll was 49,246 just slightly lower than the valid vote for the Presidential Election.

This is in keeping with rural trends with votes in cities a stronger Yes vote than that of small rural counties.

The final result from Friday’s referendum across the country showed that 64.85% voted Yes while 35.15% voted No.

A total of 951,650 people voted for the change, with 515,808 opposing the move.

The Constitution currently holds that blasphemy is a criminal offence and now this will be removed from the Constitution and the Oireachtas will remove law s providing for the prosecution of alleged blasphemers.

Donegal recorded one the highest percentage of No votes at 48.5%.

The removal of blasphemy from the constitution is one of a number of changes being made to the Irish constitution in the coming months following on from recent referendums

The last two referendums on the removal of the eighth amendment, which effectively allows for abortion, and the gay marriage referendum both showed Ireland as an increasingly progressive country. The removal of blasphemy adds to the progressive momentum as a progressive move.

A number of other referendum will take place next year including a vote on the Constitutional edicts about women’s place in the home.