Closet catholic probably! Staples take the sin out of using them.

Neither is using a fork to open a stubborn packet…

A bit of a bigoted comment.

what sort of pathetic individual did that?

@ Richard
What’s pathetic about it!? It’s their right to spoil their vote if they choose to!

There’s plenty of things we all have a right to do that could still be labeled as ‘pathetic’. Having the right to act a certain way doesn’t make you exempt from criticism once you’ve done it.

It still would have been spoiled. any writing beyond a preference spoils a vote.

“There’s plenty of things we all have a right to do that could still be labeled as ‘pathetic’.”

Spoiling your vote is hardly at the top of that list.

Actually the pope has reversed that decision in recent months and has approved their usage in African nations to fight the spread of HIV. It was in the news over the summer I believe.

Pope Palpatine just recently reversed that actually, after countless millions contracted the disease. A last attempt to be relevant for a fossilizing, corrupt organisation.

The pope absolutely did not reverse that idea. Last year he said it was slightly less immoral for some one like a male prostitute with HIV to wear one than not, given that he’s engaged in immoral behaviour anyway. The catholic position on contraception is still that it’s evil.

Jeffrey, don’t lie. The Pope and Vatican did not reverse its stance on condoms

That’s the problem Jef. You only “believe”. You don’t check the facts. The catholic churches stance on this has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and is and will always be an abomination to humanity. No matter what people “Believe” or which ever disgraceful pontiff leads.

The voter himself/herself probably took the photo of their ballot inside the booth before dropping it in.

The photo credit is right above the photo! “Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland at the CityWest count centre in Dublin”.

Presumably one of the count workers brought it to the attention of the photographer and allowed him to photograph it. Anyway, I doubt the “voter” will be upset ;)

It’s says the photo was taken by Sam Boal of Photocall Ireland. So much for a private and confidential vote!

@ Andy – the point exactly

So we know from looking at it who cast it? This photo has no bearing on confidentiality. Indeed as a protest vote, it’s now getting wider attention and not just the one count official.

With that logic none of the ballot boxes should have been opened to protect all those private votes from prying eyes of the counters!

There is a difference in people involved in the count and appearing in a publication for the nation to see.

The vote is still anonamous! Where does it say the name of the voter ?????

So long as the vote can’t be connected to the voter it hardly matters whether the ballot paper itself is photographed or not.

The person didn’t cast a valid ballot. They should have stayed at home rather than wasting their time.

Not voting is a valid democratic decision, as is spoiling a ballot. If someone feels the change to the constitution isn’t significant then that’s their call.

out of hours emergency support services do exist

If the resources were made available to cover the cost of providing weekend services then a referendum such as this would be worthy but I fear it’s just an exercise in political correctness and salves the egos of that class.

I can see your point.

A great victory for children!!!! And still a victory for the government.

This has nothing to do with the budget.
and everything to do with the children
you are missing the point

no you are missing the point, there’s far more to this than the children, or is it just coincidental that a yes vote will save the government a lot of money?

If the government can’t even convince people that a proposed change to the constitution is significant then it’s got alot to do with the government’s credibility.

Whether or not this is a victory for children remains to be seen.

Your vote isn’t private or confidential when being counted. It is anonymous, however. Tallymen always watch votes as they’re being counted. Part of the transparency of the process.

You may have received two polling cards but you will almost certainly appear once on the register.

I doubt the people staying home did so out of any negative feelings against the government, or a lack of concern about children. It was almost certainly because they had no strong feelings either way about the proposed changes.

Absolutely, when voters disagree with eurosceptics it must be because of their sheeplike qualities, not because they have a valid opinion or anything.

A chunk of people don’t tend to answer the question they’re actually asked and regard a referendum question as symbolising a “Do you like the government?” poll. Nowhere near all, obviously but there are many.

… and another chunk of people regard the question as symbolising a “Do you like children?” poll. Only saying.

@Seamus: Suspicion of the government’s motives/competency is a valid factor to take into account when voting to change the constitution.

unfortunately we do need the state taking care of our children, if their parents are irresponsible and cannot take care of them – if the state doesn’t step in, what will these children do? ?????

And what about when the state are asked to step in and they don’t and it ends up in dire consequences for the child.

They have a proven track record that they cannot be trusted, they will only step in on vulnerable families where they no the people have done no hatching wrong but still want to make them suffer.

When there,s homes out there where children should have been removed a long time ago. Re. Roscommon

If I remember right quite a few prominent environMENTALists called for population control, starting from an Australian leader of Greens to Obama’s science tzar Holdren. Glad we agree Greens are Nazis.

Population control isn’t all that crazy. Frankly if the human population keeps growing it might be very necessary. There’s only so much room on the planet.

Eh I think you are on the wrong issue?
This is about children’s rights?
I’m guessing you are probably a supporter of those hypocrites
Youth defence…the ones that believe a feutus has more rights than a grown grown woman, but believe a living child has less rights than adult

The real tragedy is that there are people like you out there, Zaza, perpetuating the stigma surrounding abortion. You and your ilk should stow your narrow-minded bigotry and wake up to the real world instead of preaching your disturbingly twisted Youth Defence brand of ‘humanity’.

“LIBERAL”: I take you are a female, by your use of the word liberal i can also assume that you are not in favour of same work same pay for women, you prefer female segregation in church if you go to a church,you would prefer that women would not be allowed in to bars and pubs etc, you would prefer the women would lose their right to vote, maybe you would prefer that all females be covered from head to toe and be allowed out without a brother/father. I have 2 beautiful daughters who use their brains when they vote. they are 3rd level educated,they weigh up the pros and CONS and are not stuck in this Right Wing rightous nonsense. LIBERAL and FREE thinking people: God bless them!

The referendum didn’t have anything to do with abortion. That said, there’s a whole lot of projection going on with the other people replying to you.