IRELAND HAS VOTED against the 39th Amendment to the Constitution, meaning that the Family referendum has been defeated.

The official announcement has just been made in Dublin Castle. 

1,509,110 valid votes were cast out of a total ballot of 1,525,215.

67% of voters cast ‘No’ votes: 1,021,546 ballots rejected the referendum compared to 487,564 in favour. 

In this amendment there was one vote for two proposed changes.

The first proposed change involved adding extra text to Article 41.1.1 and deleting part of Article 41.3.1.

The proposed new wording for Article 41.1.1 was that the State recognise the family “whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships”.

The proposed change to Article 41.3.1 was to delete the reference which states that the family is founded on marriage.

So the new wording would have been: “The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, and to protect it against attack.”

However, due to the No vote, this section of the Constitution will remain unchanged.

The result in yesterday’s other referendum – on the Care Amendment – will be announced within the coming hours. It’s expected that will also be a No vote. 

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Since this morning, it’s been clear that both referendums would be rejected – there were strong showings for the No side as the first boxes were opened. 

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan – the first senior government figure out to talk to the media today – told reporters it was “clear we lost”. 

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald – who had also campaigned for a Yes-Yes – said her party will “return to” considerations of the “sexist language” in the Constitution if the party leads the next government.

Independent senator and former PDs leader Michael McDowell – who had been campaigning for a No-No - said the result showed the government was “out of touch with public opinion”.

This afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar conceded the government had been handed “two wallops”.

We’ll have reaction to the result and updates throughout the evening in our Count Day liveblog.