The biggest noise of the day was the sound of voters staying awayat the end of a confusing campaign, writes Frank McNally.
A campaign in which both sides failed to persuade the electorate that this was a black-and-white issue was resolved on an appropriately grey day in Dublin, as the electorate went to the polls for the third time on abortion, with little enthusiasm.
The main debate over, yesterday's burning question was whether the turnout would reach even the recent low-water mark of voter interest represented by last year's verdict on the Nice Treaty. And yet, after the controversies surrounding the Referendum Commission's booklet, there was time for one last row about literature.
Campaigning is not allowed in or around polling stations, and presiding officers do everything by the book. But that was just the problem yesterday. Many voters noticed the Bibles on the voter-registration tables - for use in swearing those who have no proof of identity - and felt their consciences being tweaked.
In a referendum which divided Cardinal Connell and Dana, it is debatable whether the Good Word was a Yes or a No. Nevertheless, the Labour Party confirmed it received a number of complaints about the issue and passed them on. And as the day progressed, presiding officers were ordering Bibles to be more discreetly placed.
At St Vincent's National School in Marino, the very first voter of the day objected. There were complaints at Synge Street CBS as well, and at the polling station in Clonliffe Road, where the Cardinal was among the first in. By afternoon, the latter venue's Bible was nestling in a holdall under the table.
The objections were selective, in that many stations are located in schools run by religious orders, and Catholic symbols are everywhere. Behind the Bible-free table in St Vincent's, for example, there was a large crucifix on the wall. At a school in Basin Street in the south inner city, voters were greeted at the door by the portrait of a nun.
On an otherwise quiet day, however, it was the nearest thing to a running controversy. True, there was anger at at a polling station in Stillorgan where, because of a misprint on polling cards, some voters had be redirected to a centre two miles away at Cornelscourt, where opening hours were extended by half an hour.
But the plight of reporters looking for interesting detail yesterday was summed up by the presiding officer at St Andrews Resource Centre in Pearse Street, who said that the day had been "quiet - a Belgian television crew is the most excitement we've had". No disrespect to Belgium, but that's quiet.
The biggest noise was the sound of voters staying away. At the Taoiseach's polling station in Drumcondra, a spokesman described the figures as "hopeless," although they had been boosted by the local Carmelite nuns who had turned out in force, presumably to vote Yes. Mr Ahern had the Carmelites in one hand, it seemed, but more than half-empty ballot boxes in the other.
At Basin Street, a polling officer said the morning turnout was "very bad: nobody wants to vote anymore, only the elderly." But in Synge Street, even the elderly had disappointed.
A spokesman said turnout was lower than Nice and added: "It doesn't augur well for this when so few people will decide the issue. I think we'll be having another one yet."
In St Mary's National School, Haddington Road, even some of those who had turned out were struggling to care.
An outspoken elderly woman claimed that The Irish Times and RTÉ had given saturation coverage to this referendum "which won't make any difference either way" while ignoring Nice.
She added: "I'm very pro-European and I support Nice. It won't affect our neutrality. And even if it does, what difference will that make the way we suck up to the Americans? I'm voting No here, by the way."