Counting of votes begins at 9am with scepticism that voter turnout may only reach 40%
So what do we know about turnout? As of early yesterday evening, just 25 per cent of voters had cast a ballot in Dublin city, but in Galway by 8.30pm turnout was reported as being between 29 per cent and 41 per cent. By late Friday evening reports of turnout in different parts of the Dún Laoghaire constituency ranged between 37 per cent and 46 per cent. At around 7.
30pm, the percentage was averaging around 42 per cent in Wicklow-Arklow, while turnout in the combined Bray-Greystones area in Co Wicklow late in the evening was 47.9 per cent. A previous referendum with low turnout – the vote on children’s rights which saw 33.5 per cent of voters turn up to the polls – passed by 57.4 per cent, a lower support level than expected. Turnout on Friday will not reach anywhere near the 60.