Irish abortion referendum: yes wins with 66.4% – as it happened

The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has just tweeted this picture of himself and the expectant crowd at Dublin Castle:

The Irish comedian David O’Doherty is at Dublin castle for the announcement, reports Sinéad Baker.

He remembers growing up in an Ireland where most parts of the country voted against permitting divorce in 1995:

I always thought there was two Irelands ... but that died yesterday. It died with marriage equality and then it really died yesterday.

• Cork South West is 64.51% yes, 35.49% no
  
• Dublin Mid-West 73.27% yes, 26.73% no
• Kerry 58.27% yes, 41.73% no

The crowd at Dublin Castle is cheering on the politicians that have been particularly active on the yes side of this campaign, including Leo Varadkar and health minister Simon Harris, says Sinéad Baker:

Seven constituencies remain: Kerry, Sligo-Leitrim, Cork South-West, Cork East, Dublin Mid-West, Dublin Bay South and Donegal, which observers are suggesting might be the only one to vote against repealing the eighth amendment.

With half a dozen constituencies left to declare, Ireland is turning purple:

More results:

• Cavan-Monaghan 55.5% yes, 44.5% no
  
• Mayo 57.07% yes, 42.93% no

And the Taoiseach has arrived at Dublin Castle, says RTE2’s man on the spot:

Readers in Northern Ireland have been contacting the Guardian urging abortion reform there. Aoibhinn, who’s studying for A-levels in Belfast, says she’s relieved about the result in Ireland but feels isolated as a young woman in Northern Ireland:

We are now poised to be the only place within these islands without access to abortion. I hope with all my heart that the forces that campaigned to repeal the eighth will now lend us a hand in dragging our laws into the 21st century.

Pete Doughty, a civil servant from Belfast, would like to see legislation change too:

Abortion is never, ever an easy option to choose ... I’ve seen friends of mine here in Northern Ireland having to take that decision – and then having to travel – alone, stressed, in comparative secrecy, and at great expense – to England and back, at the expense of their dignity and peace of mind.

Women in Northern Ireland have always been under the same pressure as Irish woman, but after this result they will now, tragically, stand alone. That can’t be allowed to continue.

Westminster must now step in and give Northern Irish women the right to be believed and trusted that our socially conservative politicians will always wish to deny them.

If you’d like to share your reaction, you can do so here.

Another couple of results, bringing us – according to RTÉ - up to 30 out of 40 constituencies:

• Cork North-West 60.10% yes, 39.90% no
• Longford-Westmeath 58.27% yes, 41.73% no

Derek Mooney, a former Fianna Fáil government adviser, has an very interesting take on the scale of the yes vote and what lay behind it:

The general assumption right up to the last week was that yes would win decisively, with a comfortable margin, leaving the no side in the low-40s nationally and tipping just over the 50% mark in the western, more rural constituencies.

Not for the first time the voters proved the pundits wrong. And the movement to yes happened long before the first posters hit the lampposts. Many traditional, middle-ground voters – including those who still see themselves as pro-life - decided some time back that it was time to take the issue of abortion out of the Irish constitution.

This referendum was about nuance, and Irish voters showed that they get nuance. So do voters in most countries. They know that very few issues are simply black or white.

Many voters, including those who had real qualms about some aspects of what the government proposes in its legislation, accepted the nuances and complexities, considered them and – on balance – accepted the case for repeal.

This is the seismic change that has happened in Ireland today. In a world that seems destined to rush to this or that easy populist position, Irish voters took the time to inform themselves. They listened to the expert opinions from all sides and weighed the arguments.

The political system afforded them that opportunity by having a long pre-campaign period where arguments, for and against, were calmly made. If only the Brexit referendum had been handled so calmly and sensibly.