After years spent campaigning against the eighth amendment, students are looking ahead to a final result today that will confirm that Ireland has voted overwhelmingly for repeal.
Exit polls last night suggested that Ireland is set to opt for repeal by a staggering majority. The Irish Times exit poll has the yes side on 68 per cent and the no side on 32 per cent, while the RTÉ exit poll has the yes side on 69.4 per cent.
The latest figures from count centres, according to RTÉ and the Irish Times, suggest that constituencies across the country, especially in Dublin, are opting to support repeal with large majorities.
On Twitter, Labour’s Senator Kevin Humphries tweeted tallies showing overwhelming support for repeal in the Dublin Bay South constituency, which is home to Trinity Hall.
This morning, the leaders of the student movement have been celebrating the result of the exit poll. Speaking to The University Times from the count centre in the RDS, the President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Michael Kerrigan, said he “wasn’t at all surprised” that students have come out in favour of repealing the eighth amendment.
In recent months, the national union had been running voter registration drives ahead of the referendum. For years, USI has been at the forefront of the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment, staging marches and rallies and lobbying politicians on the issue.
It’s been “40 years of students and students’ unions having broad agreement on this issue”, Kerrigan said. And while today could see the vast majority of age groups vote for repeal, rather than just young people, students’ unions have been consistent supporters of repeal over the years.
Speaking on RTÉ this morning, veteran abortion rights campaigner and co-director of the Together for Yes campaign Ailbhe Smyth said that the vote was representative of young men and women “saying this is a new Ireland”.
“This is a country now that young people have a very clear say in how it works out”, she said.
Speaking to The University Times this morning, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Kevin Keane said: “The exit polls are obviously extraordinary. I don’t think even the most optimistic of yes campaigners would have predicted a nearly 70 percent margin of victory.”
It “goes to show this isn’t really the divisive issue the no campaign presented it as”, he said.
Keane credited USI and students’ unions with shaping the conversation around repeal in recent years. “It was on everybody’s lips really from September. Creating that culture of repeal on campus has contributed hugely.”
The Savethe8th campaign has already effectively conceded defeat. In a statement on its website, the pro-life campaign said: “Abortion was wrong yesterday. It remains wrong today. The constitution has changed, but the facts have not.”
A large majority in favour of repeal will offer a significant mandate for the government to pass the proposed legislation for abortion reform, with today’s result, if in line with exit polls, likely to accelerate the passage of a legislation through the Oireachtas.
As counting continues across the country, a final result is expected mid-afternoon.
