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TURNOUT IS REPORTED to be low across the country as voting continues in the two referenda being held today.
Around 3.1 million people are eligible to vote in the referendum to abolish the Seanad and the referendum to set up a new Court of Appeal.
Reports suggest that turnout has been low so far today though polling stations will expect a rush later this evening when people finish work.
The last referendum held in November last year saw turnout of just 33 per cent for the Children’s Rights vote. The all-time low was for the Bail referendum in 1996 where just 29 per cent turned out.
Here are some pictures of some mildly famous politicians and a few ordinary people casting their votes earlier today:
All pics: Photocall Ireland
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If you dont vote then dont moan when it dont go your way.
Tripe.
It’s a choice between red herring and orange herring.
So pick a herring before someone else does it for you.
I would vote if they allowed me. The government will take my taxes though, this I can confirm!!
Maybe if they has sent out the polling card to people that were alive they would have a better turnout. I have 2 polling cards in my house and the recipients have been dead for nearly 2 years.
The place where I used to live had previous tenants that were registered to vote and I would get about 5 or 6 cards including my own each voting day. I go to the voting station and don’t get asked for ID so I always wonder how many of these cards get used by unscrupulous persons. I’d never do it but surely better policing of the system needs to occur, why not refresh the database and get everyone to register again, they would be shocked to see how many names will be taken off the list.
Don’t we do a census anyway…
You can still vote, bring your passport or license and a proof of address.
And if you’re still undecided, vote no. you’ll have more time to decide while enda picks another date for a rerun.
Sinn Fein supporters even vote when they are dead and have for years
This makes me really angry people think their punishing the government by not voting but there the only ones missing out , if you want to get back at the government then VOTE NO if not then VOTE YES simple as. We were given the opportunity to vote for a reason so DO IT !
Wow, great reasons to vote Adam, intelligent stuff
What a stupid comment. So even if you don’t know whether these are good or bad ideas you should vote NO to annoy the government.
Thank God we didn’t have idiots like you advocating this sort of attitude when the divorce referendum was being run. That only barely passed. If people had voted they way you suggested it probably would have failed.
Whatever about your feelings for the government vote on the issues involved and if you don’t know what they are, well shame on you but stay at home. An uninformed vote is far worse than a non-vote.
If that is aimed at me your points are utterly ridiculous
Yes it is aimed at you Adam and just because you say it’s ridiculous doesn’t make it so!
Voting on important social/political issues on the basis of spiting a government is juvenile in the extreme. Hopefully those who do turn out to vote will show a little more maturity irrespective of the result.
That’s what I was trying to get across Jim !
@Jim I see the point that a no could be seen as a protest vote, a vote to maintain the status quo, I do however believe that it’s nonsense to vote one way or another just to spite the sitting government.
I’ll be voting no, but based on the facts at hand rather than the inaccuracies and soundbites that the people have been presented with.
If that’s so Adam then fair enough. However I think you didn’t get it across the way you wanted to.
My Apologies .
No need to be such a precious arse jim, it’s Friday – take it down a notch. :)
Until voting has moved away from the dark ages and people are forced to log in through a portal and vote, much like being forced to pay house tax online, there will be no true democracy.
I disagree. If someone truly doesn’t understand something, surely the sensible thing is to vote to keep things as they are, rather than a change they don’t understand? Some things don’t have any real bearing on our lives, but changing them just might, and perhaps not for the better.
in all fairness, there is so much information out there on the both referenda plus the internet is a great resource!
People all complaining about this government and this country. What do people expect if you don’t excerise your right to vote. even if it is for this referendum.
Right to vote will change nothing. They’ve given us just enough power to believe that we control them but they are the only ones that call the shots. Sure we can vote in another team but the game stays the same.
Take off your tinfoil hat and go outside to get some fresh air.
I have voted in every election and every referendum I have been in the country for during the last 20 years. But I have decided not to vote today. Give out all you want but they have finally worn me down. The Seanad? I mean who gives a crap! I have enough to worry about providing for myself and my family. The self serving politicians can find someone else to validate them. In terms of party’s I started off voting for the workers party – they were sold out. Then democratic left – sold out. Then labour – sold out. It is truly pointless to vote when all the candidates are career politicians without any principle. Maybe for a referendum on a big social issue I will turn out but apart from that forget it.
What if you dont want to be led by some men in suits, who take orders from other men in suits, where does that vote go?
Save yourself for the local elections so Thomas. That’s when the electorate can really take revenge.
@ Thomas, I hear what you’re saying but this isn’t a general election, it’s a referendum to change the constitution!!!
this is where we have a true voice in changing things in this country but unfortunately people just don’t seem to care or actually realise that.
People think by voting against what the current (or what ever current) government are championing that they are doing great and that’s where the problem lies.
I really do believe that people who have the right to vote in a referendum should do or be fined.
@Pat Murphy, I consider it mine and anyone else’s democratic right not to vote if they don’t want. That’s a load of crap that idea of having to vote because it’s your right. There’s a difference between a right and an obligation.
Paul, With rights come responsibilities. With your right to vote comes also a responsiblity to vote. I look forward to when it may be an obligation
By then I fear it may be too late. If the Séanad goes, it could well be our last referendum. Nothing to stop the Federal States of Europe.
I see there’s no caption on the last picture. Is that an invitation? :-) on the serious side, get out and vote people!
Not picture of a nun or a woman getting married to be seen, it’s not a poling day until we have those photos!
Or until we see Enda casting his vote on the 6:1 news.
They’re should be a voting app… its 2013… paper and a ballet box… I just don’t know… I won’t be venturing to the local national school today…
Or a nun getting married !
Vile comment
I’d rather look at a picture of Wayne Rooney’s prostitue chewing on a lemon for 24 hours than be greeted by Richard Brutons horrible mush at a polling station, today of all days.
I get the feeling Eoin Sheehy has misogyny in his blood.
It actually demonstrates insight into the imagery that RTE regularly use to depict Irish Democracy in action…
That’s quite the jump :( you don’t even know me D:
Just voted there myself.
The place is dead, I got a very surprised “oh look you’re our first young voter!”
well done jamie!!!
voter apathy in this country is unbelievable!!
this isn’t a general election to vote for jimmy1 over jimmy2, it’s a referendum to change the constitution of the country, a constitution that was very hard fought for and peoples ignorance is sickening!!!
rant over, I’m off to vote !
Terrible turnout my area. Only the second name crossed of on the whole page. Typical Irish Shite. Moan about something all day but do feck all to change it.
If you don’t vote you morally give up the right to moan about the result I think
Stop with the morally tripe. nothing morally wrong with not voting.
yes there is simon!
Looks like the “fighting Irish” are after emigrating now we have the “lazy irish” where 100% will moan and very few will get off their arses to do anything about it.
You forgot the “self loathing” Irish. A seemingly large element of society that moans that all Irish people are useless lazy apathetic morons even though they themselves don’t get off their arses and do anything either.
Mike I don’t think anyone gives a sh*t about the abolition of the Seanad. It’s not something that’s high on my agenda. The Government have a carte blanché to do as they please on everything already and there’s not a thing we can do about it, the Seanad is full of the same self serving idiots that populate the Dail so I see no real point in keeping it but don’t care enough about it being abolished to vote on it, just simply a non-issue for me.
Even come next general election there’s nothing we can do, the only people that will ever get elected in this country are FF and FG and we know that they’re all the same, there’s simply no choice and peoples apathy doesn’t stem from not caring, it stems from being powerless to do anything about it. House always wins as they say!
Rven just go and spoil your vote by putting an X across thr ballot sheet.
That will send a message.
@ both ted & mike, thanks for proving my point!
Get off your phone on vote
Country going down the toilet and people don’t seem to care…no fight in the Irish…Jesus. When will this country have it’s “poll tax” moment and kick off ? You all would rather go down the pub and moan
It’s early yet people might vote after work. I can’t understand when you have the right to vote why would you not use that right.
People would vote in greater numbers if the subject matter was of interest to them. It isn’t it seems.
@ niall, pure apathy!!!!!
I’m sounding like a broken record but this changes the constitution!!!
it doest get jim1 into the Dáil over jim2!!!
I really think referenda are that important!!
really off to bite now!
Were I a betting man I’d guess 52%:48% against. It’s going to be interesting to see how this vote pans out.
Looks like a landslide for apathy.
Well Jim thanks for the tip. I’ll have a flutter on voter turnout being 28% nationally.
Hope ur right Niall
Is Dublin only voting today? Only pictures from Dublin… As usual.
Yeah, because that’s the real issue.
So satisfying ticking that box. David Norris, Ronan Mullen, i’d love to say its been a pleasure. But i’d be lying. Now F*** off and do something useful please, preferably not at my expense. cheers
Did you know that, technically, if you mark the ballot paper with anything other than an “X” in one box and one box only, it should be counted as a spoiled paper? Generally speaking, though, the Returning Officer will have given instructions to accept ticks!
What are you going to do with the money? New carton of milk, perhaps?
I just spoke to my mother who informed me that between 7am and 12pm only 8 people had voted at our local polling station. As a member of the Irish diaspora with no opportunity to vote this apathy is disappointing. I understand and respect the right not to vote and that people feel alienated from political decisions but surely complete disengagement is not the way to change things. All this will achieve is ensuring that referendum results are not truly representative of citizen’s opinions and that those with the larger or more powerful lobby will win by default.
On polling day I think of all those who do not have a right to vote, or who have to walk great distances to their polling stations. To those of you who can’t be bothered to traipse down the road to the local national school……words fail me.
What is the point? Nothing is going to change. People will go through schooling and go through college so they can emigrate to another country. Our politicians will continue to put in a quarter of the work that other country’s politicians do, incompetently; and get paid more than the American president for doing so.
Until we riot, we should either put up or shut up. Complaining won’t accomplish anything.
You do realise that your opinion is absolutely irrelevant if you don’t vote.
In your case I’d suggest shutting up.
Yeah, lets cause major damage to our streets, loot shops and burn out cars. That will make such a difference.
You can’t be arsed to vote, but you think rioting is a good plan. When the riot is over and you’ve ‘won’, how do you propose running the country? Maybe weekly riots on selected issues, whoever burns the most cars carries the motion?
I’m a little bit embarrassed to say I am Irish today! Today, we as a nation had an opportunity to vote in changes to our constitution. The majority of our nation didn’t bother getting off their a-holes to vote. After countless generations who had NO opportunity to vote,Its only 92 years since we actually had the chance to vote!!! I actually think that the nation of Ireland would prefer a Dictatership! Rant over.
Dictatership!! Huck huck. Put dem taters on t’boil!!
The wife & myself were voters 4 and 5 at our station thus morning @7.45am so at least three others were anxious to do their duty.
Over the years, voter turn out has been getting lower and lower. Bit of a shame really!! People just don’t seem to care what’s going on anymore!
They will whinge and moan though every other day ;)
The guy at my polling station (St. Josephs NS in Priorswood, D17) said it was an extremely bad turnout (this was 11am) – he’s there for any vote ive ever cast there (13 years) so he would definitely be in the know.
Despite a recession, still half the voting population are working are stuck trying to occupy kids who have no school today.
Bloody ridiculous that every voting day is not a Saturday.
We had a loaded trial of a Sat vote for an issue which many people were not bothered to vote on whatever day.
A bit early to be saying low turnout- sure its only ‘quittin’ time for most of us now!
Low turn suits the government
Still an hour left to get there and vote NO !!!
There should be a minimum turn out required! Its crazy that their isnt and also should ppl be allowed vote on Saturdays. I did vote but I think it should be made easier for people.
What about those who work on Saturdays? Seriously the polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm. If that’s not trying to accommodate people I don’t know what is.
I never received a polling card nor did anyone else in my house despite us sending off change of address forms 6 months ago and us giving our details again to a civil servant who knocked on our door less than 2 months ago so we could vote yet despite this our names never got onto the register.
We went to the polling station anyway with proof of address and identification and still weren’t allowed to vote.
It seems democracy relies on reliable administration… Who’d have thought!
Why didn’t you check it out when you didn’t receive a polling card rather than wait until today?
Because he wanted something to give out about instead of doing something useful and sorting his voting card out in time.
Lucy I’ve changed address regularly in last ten years and rarely receive polling cards but have always been able to vote anyway by showing id but for some reason this time despite sending off the correct forms they didn’t have my address registered. I’ve always sent off the forms when changing address in fairness. Probably could have done more I suppose but given some of the comments about not bothering to vote I’m hardly the most deserving of your wrath on here! @talkingsence as regards doing something useful are you online giving out too?! Pot kettle black
john, what a woeful excuse!!!
if you really wanted to vote you should of checked the Electoral Register either online or post office, Garda station etc it’s really not that hard!!!
Im one of many students that can’t exercise my right to vote because I don’t live at home!! We need to find a way to allow voting by way of electronical means.
Could you not head home to vote? Hangover too bad from last nite? Listen chicken, where there’s a will there’s always a way…
When living in France, I noticed that a lot of my friends there were unavailable on the weekends around election times. They had headed to their home constituencies to vote, and voter turnout was far higher than it is in Ireland. You can exercise your right to vote, nobody has taken that away from you. Yet.
Should you not be registered where you live? I know when I was a student living away from home I was registered to vote where I was living, not where my parents were living!
Looking at the voting cards today you’d think the primary language in this country was Irish. For a moment there I thought I had forgotten how to read because all I could see were words I couldn’t understand.
both papers were very very badly worded !!!
We should have just let the germans vote on this one
I voted No to both counts. I want our President to have the ability to question acts passed by the Dail.
I also believe that the banks lobbied the government for an appeal court as part of the debt forgivness scheme through the new P.I.P scheme they sanctioned. This coyrt would cost a lot more than the senate and would be a fast track court for the big boys to evict home owners.
Well they have sucked the life and soul out of us. So mission accomplished. Taxes, threats, save the banks and their banking cronies and bondholders. Great job at destroying Irish pride.
Could low voter turn out have anything to do with the complete shambles they made of the whole polling card thing this time around? I got a letter from the council saying they made an error with my polling card and to bring this letter to x polling station to vote. Now, my current address isn’t the address I’m registered to vote in. I just show up with a passport instead of my polling card every time, so I thought it was odd. But then I realised that the polling station they were telling me to go to was not my actual polling station. And to make matters worse, when I got to my ACTUAL polling station, it had been relocated to down the street. Now, I’m not one for conspiracies, but if I didn’t know better I’d almost think that somebody didn’t want me to vote…
I went to the usual polling station , the same school its been held at in balbriggan for years and its not there.
I know people will say I should have looked at the polling card. Its hsd moved to another school 700 mtrs away far end of the town. I spoke to some people outside who said they went to the old spot as well and considered turning back home when the school was closed.
Thats my polling station aswell, in fairness the new location was on the polling card and notice of change was in the local newspapers/newsletters. I was speaking with one of the girls at the station at about 5.30, she said its the lowest turnout shes seen.
Its Balbriggan not New York….. It aint that big! Jump in the car and just go to the right place… Jeez! People notified about a change in venue, go to the wrong place, moan and decide to protest by going home and not voting. It doesn’t get much more Irish than that.
I never moan! Couldn’t be arsed voting, I rarely do
eh, you just did!
Just did what?
moan!
Lol that’s not a moan, that’s a statement saying “I couldn’t be arsed voting”. Never take an interst in politics, I usually just flick on by in the newspaper! No point in voting anyway, I couldn’t tell you what either is about
I’ m embarrassed to say that more Irish couch surfers vote (and pay for the privilege) for mediocre karaoke singers on banal shows such as X factor than turn out and possibly effect change for the good of their children, I truly despair, then having to listen to the same lazy shite giving out about the government, we might be better going back to having a common enemy like the English.
Not registered with in new apartment and don’t even know where the polling station is tried to find it by googling it but can’t find it so not arsed
Bet ye know where your local off-licence is though
Duh!
I do believe that low-information voters, or should consider staying home, but I can see no earthly reason why anyone should be so apathetic as to be a low-information voter.
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