A resounding yes to marriage equality in meath

Final results are in for the two Meath constituencies with both areas of the county strongly backing the marriage equality proposal. 

Meath West has said 'Yes' to same sex marriage with a margin of 60.1 per cent in favour of marriage equality with a total of 21,374 votes.

Meath East has also said 'Yes' with 63.6 per cent of the electorate voting in favour with 24,525 votes, compared to 14,025 against. Turnout in the constituency was 59.6 per cent.

Organiser of the Yes Equality group in Trim, Dave Farrelly, said he was 'very delighted and emotional' as earlier tallies predicted a win by 60:40 in the Meath West constituency.

'It was a campaign that any political party would be envious of - they had at least 14 people out canvassing each night,' said Fianna Fail-affiliated Shane Dempsey.

Fine Gael Junior Minister Damien English welcomed the result, saying: 'I met a lot of people who said they'd vote 'yes' and a lot in favour of 'no' but there was no bitterness - everyone had genuine reasons on both sides.

'There was no age profile. I came across young people who were voting 'no' and equally I met older generations who were determined to vote 'yes'.'

He added: 'It's a great story for Ireland and today I'm proud to be Irish and proud to be from Meath.'