Thinking Anglicans

Irish people vote Yes in referendum on marriage equality

Results received at the Central Count Centre for the referendum on the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015.

Turnout 60.52
Yes/Tá 62.07%
No/Níl 37.93%

Latest Summary – national position
Electorate: 3,221,681
Total poll: 1,949,725
Percentage turnout: 60.52%
Invalid ballot papers: 13,818
Valid poll: 1,935,907
Votes in favour: 1,201,607
Votes against: 734,300

Detailed results by constituency are available here.

The exact wording of the referendum question is explained fully here.

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Jeremy Pemberton
Jeremy Pemberton
9 years ago

It is hard to express how absolutely wonderful I think this news is. As someone said in Dublin Castle this evening, it means that we are the same as everyone else. This was about a lot more than just marriage, but because of marriage’s place in the constitution in Ireland it is a kind of touchstone for equality and acceptance. How very different from our own dear Church of England’s treatment of LGBT people and their loves, lives and marriages, where we are still a topic for agonised debate and uncertainty about what we might be “allowed” to do or… Read more »

Simon R
Simon R
9 years ago

What a wonderful day to be the holder of an Irish passport! My British one expires next month and I think I will just let it expire and travel only on my Irish passport from now on.

Here’s hoping that the C of E’s HoB will echo Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s frank admission that Irish Roman Catholicism needs a ‘reality check.’

Paul Barlow
9 years ago

As readers will see from the next post up, the CofI’s Archbishops haven’t exactly caught the mood of celebration. Nor have they echoed Archbishop Diarmuid’s reflection. In my constituency (Dublin South-East) 75% of voters voted in favour of the amendment.

John
John
9 years ago

Thank you, Simon (S.).

It is indeed wonderful news. Others note the divided response from the Catholic hierarchy and the many brave priests and nuns who were open in their support. This is bound to impact this side of the water, where some obvious members of the hierarchy are pretty liberal. Proud to be Irish (kind of).

Father Ron Smith
9 years ago

Roman Catholic Irish Republic – the first country in the world to display an overwhelming welcome to Gay couples as lawfully married citizens! Bravo, Ireland!

Erika Baker
Erika Baker
9 years ago

I don’t understand the comments. Yes it was incredibly moving and I am so thrilled at the outcome. But, Simon R. England, Wales and Scotland already have marriage equality, we’re not lagging behind. Our political system did not require a referendum, but we had decisive votes in both Houses of Parliament supported by strong majorities in all opinion polls. Regarding the church statement I’m not entirely sure what it means. Was he saying that the church needs to wake up and find new ways of teaching what it has always taught, or was he saying that it should concentrate on… Read more »

John
John
9 years ago

Erika,

You’re talking about two different Irish churches. Archbishop Diarmuid is RC (and clearly a man with a bit of intelligence). The bishops who have spoken their own minds are C of I. Indeed, there is another sense in which there are two different Irish churches, for the southern C of I people are a lot more liberal than the northern (I write as a northerner, frequently ashamed of the church of my birth).

Nathaniel Brown
Nathaniel Brown
9 years ago

Heart-felt joy and congratulations to Ireland! I look forward to the day when the same things may be said about my country, the United States. But in my almost 67 years, I have always felt that I was not a full citizen of the country I was born in. There has been progress. When I was in high-school i could be arrested for acting on my most basic and natural feelings, while all my friends were bragging about their success with girls (taken, in retrospect, with a very large helping of salt!); when I was in college and getting my… Read more »

Simon R
Simon R
9 years ago

Surely, @Erika Baker, the point is that, despite it getting there first, England, Wales and Scotland brought in equal marriage through parliamentary process. In Ireland, this was not a decision taken by the national legislature and the political elite, it was decided by overwhelming popular vote. As the Taoiseach Enda Kenny said, this result has shown the world what Ireland is: open, equal, welcoming, joyful. Could this be said of the C of E – or British Society in general?

Spirit of Vatican II
9 years ago

I’m sure a popular referendum in Britain would come out in favour of gay marriage (especially if backed by such a brilliant campaign as Ireland’s Yes supporters staged). But it is nice that for once the people’s views were actually registered even if one is uneasy about making rights contingent on votes.

Amanda Clark
Amanda Clark
9 years ago

“In Ireland, this was not a decision taken by the national legislature and the political elite, it was decided by overwhelming popular vote.”

Quite honestly, who cares? Was the UK Parliament in 2014 acting undemocratically, or was it not representative of the will of the voters?

This is nothing more than concern trolling-its like American conservatives upset that same sex marriage has come through mostly through the courts, not through a popular vote or the legislature. If the South relied on popular will to overturn segregation and Jim Crow…well, you see my point.

robert ian williams
robert ian williams
9 years ago

I think Archbishop Martin in real context is asking the legitimate question what has happened to Catholic education. The fact is there are two generations of Catholics who have not heard the full catholic message and have been served a Catholic lite message… excluding a reverence for the magisterium as the voice of our Lord.

Father Ron Smith
9 years ago

” excluding a reverence for the magisterium as the voice of our Lord.” – Robert Ian Williams – Yes, indeed! Especially as the Anglican Churches around the world have no such intervening ‘magisterium’. The reverence in the Churches of Ireland, both Anglican and Roman Catholic, needs to be more focused on the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, than to the charisma of any episcopal hierarchy. This is why the voice of the people of Ireland has been heard to reflect the ‘Great Love of God (which has been) revealed in the Son’ – Who, alone, has the wit and… Read more »

Erika Baker
Erika Baker
9 years ago

Simon R, if I understood this correctly, Ireland did not choose a referendum from the goodness of politicians’ hearts but because the process required a referendum. In Britain, the same process did not require a referendum, but our lawfully elected politicians, supported by opinion polls, voted overwhelmingly in favour. During the Government consultation process 53% of those who took part supported civil marriage. Opinion polls showed even higher approval ratings. In the second reading in the House of Commons the bill was passed with 400 votes to 175. After the House of Lords had supported it with a majority of… Read more »

robert Ian williams
robert Ian williams
9 years ago

Ron….for a believing orthodox Roman Catholic the teaching magisterium in full communion with the Pope on defined matters is the living voice of Christ. However off the cuff ill considered remarks by a Pope don’t count. Roman catholics do not follow their leader like that of a fundamentalist cult.

Richard Ashby
Richard Ashby
9 years ago

Robert Ian Williams really can’t have it both ways. Either Roman Catholics are taught the full catholic message and accept it unquestioningly, or ‘they do not follow their leader like that if a fundamentalist cult’. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to those who think the result is a ‘disaster’ that it’s not the lack of teaching but it is the teaching itself which is being rejected.

Have they learned nothing from the debacle over contraception nearly 50 years ago? Obviously not.

John
John
9 years ago

Erika,

I understand the sentiment (though I don’t share it). Think historically.

Simon R
Simon R
9 years ago

I’m sorry @Erika Baker doesn’t get it. Ireland, as a former British colony, has shown infinitely more generosity and openness than Britain in its attitude to minorities, and is infinitely more open to being part of a wider European identity. The election of a Tory majority earlier this month has shown me what Britain is – and it’s a long way from Enda Kenny’s description of Ireland as open, equal, welcoming and joyful. As for the Church of England, I have yet to hear a diocesan bishop break ranks and support equal marriage in the way that the Church of… Read more »

robert ian williams
robert ian williams
9 years ago

There a very telling letter in the Irish Times,
( linked in the last post)written by an Irish teacher ( who is a liberal)boasting that the reason for the vote has been the liberal teaching that two generations of children have received.Whether the bishops will have the courage to reform catholic education and clearly teach the Catholic basics is another matter.

robert ian williams
robert ian williams
9 years ago

In defence of Erica…. Ireland has a written constitution ..we don’t.

Perry Butler
Perry Butler
9 years ago

So ” tenets of fairness and equality of access for all ” and “eradicating discrimination and promoting democratically chosen goals” should be actively opposed as part of a catholic education RIW?

Barry
Barry
9 years ago

Richard Ashby is right to recall the matter of Pope Paul VI’s declaration on contraception, since it is realistic to make a link between that event and the present situation where Church leaders of every shade are increasingly out of touch with their faithful. Those of us who remember the events will recall clearly the anguish of many devout Roman Catholics as they found themselves having to make a decision between “This is the teaching, do it” and “We must follow our own consciences.” It is difficult to resist the conclusion that just as the glorious 2nd Vatican Council influenced… Read more »

Erika Baker
Erika Baker
9 years ago

Simon R, It’s not about not liking what you say, I genuinely did not understand it. I’m still not sure that I do. That Ireland has shown more sympathy with European identity is true. As a German living in Britain, I very much deplore the level of Euro scepticism in this country. But I did not think we had been talking about British politics. I thought we had just been talking about same sex marriage and the treatment of lgbt people. And in that respect, gay people in the UK have been able to adopt and foster on the same… Read more »

James Byron
James Byron
9 years ago

Alan Wilson is a welcome campaigner for equality, but what more must Holtam do before it’s accepted that he’s no friend to LGBT people? He’s already promised to discipline gay clergy who marry, put his name to homophobic documents from the House of Bishops, and he continues to enforce ‘Issues …’ when, as a diocesan, he could suspend it tomorrow. If he believes in corporate responsibility, he could resign on principle. If friends like these are accepted, what hope is there for change? Well done Ireland, here’s hoping a similar democratic movement sweeps aside the opposition of England’s unelected and… Read more »

Erika Baker
Erika Baker
9 years ago

James, are you asking for a democratic movement in all of Britain to sweep away Establishment for the CoE? I’m getting a bit confused about what we’re discussing. The Irish referendum was amazing. It had immediacy and a poignancy that no drawn-out parliamentary process can have and it really felt as if the people had spoken. There is a lot to be said for changing our whole political system to give people a real say in important issues and to breathe life into politics. It’s energizing to see what happened in Ireland and it speaks much more to the soul… Read more »

James Byron
James Byron
9 years ago

“James, are you asking for a democratic movement in all of Britain to sweep away Establishment for the CoE?” I’m a secularist, so yes, I would agree with disestablishment, but that’s by the by here: my main point was about the continued support for Holtam, despite his failure to stand up for his lesbian and gay sisters and brothers in Christ. To my mind, he’s got as much credibility as a Southern Democrat who clasped his hands, talked of how he felt the pain of the Civil Rights Movement, then kept voting for segregation. If you actively support discrimination when… Read more »

Fr William
9 years ago

I’ve been an incumbent in CoI and CoE. The CoI is not ahead of the CoE, but different. There are 11 bishops, and other than Cashel and Cork they seem either to be conservative or to vote to appease the conservatives (who minister to where the money is, I guess). Roughly north/south divide. For a coruscating indictment of the state of the CoI, read this by a former Dean of Belfast: http://www.churchnewsireland.org/wp-content/uploads/CNI-Comment-May-30.pdf

Perry Butler
Perry Butler
9 years ago

Thanks for the link Fr William. Where has that Tractarian high church ethos gone that marked so much of the C of I in generations past. I remember reading Coslett Quins book on the Prayer Book Holy Communion and thinking ” here is a latter day Caroline Divine and once taking tea with + George Simms.
Parts of his analysis applies to the C of E of course. Icabod!

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