IRELAND HAS VOTED against the 40th Amendment to the Constitution, meaning that the Care referendum has been defeated.

The country voted by 73.93% to 26.07% against the amendment. 1,525,221 were votes cast.

A total of 1,114,620 people voted No, compared with 393,053 Yes voters.

There was a turnout of 44.36% nationally.

The Care Amendment has garnered the highest ever percentage No vote of the 38 referendums to have taken place in the history of the State.

The result will see the retention of Article 41.2 of Constitution, which refers to a woman’s “life within the home” and her “duties in the home”.

The referendum had proposed removing this article and replacing it with a new Article 42B.

The new article would have said: “The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to Society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision.”

The Family Amendment was also rejected earlier. 

There were no government representatives present at the announcement of the final count at Dublin Castle this evening. 

You can find updates from throughout the day including all the political reaction in our liveblog.