Ireland today began celebrating a historic and emphatic victory for marriage equality.
Voters in the world's first ever referendum on the issue supported the principle of same sex couples having the right to tie the knot with a near two to one majority.
Some 1.2 million people backed the move, which comes only 22 years after the country decriminalised homosexuality.
Leo Varadkar, Health Minister and Ireland's first openly gay cabinet member, described the impact the momentous victory had on the country.
"Something has been awakened in the Irish people ... it was not just a referendum it was more like a social revolution," he said.
Key campaign groups fighting the reform conceded defeat before any formal declarations.
The referendum now paves the way for the necessary laws to be passed by the summer and potentially opens the door for the first gay marriage ceremonies to be held by the end of the year.
Voters were asked one simple, specific question on whether to amend Article 41 of the 1937 Constitution by adding a new clause to a section titled The Family.
It asked them to support or reject a change to the 78-year-old document which reads: "Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex."
Additional reporting by PA
