Hundreds of islanders on five islands off the coast of Co Donegal are casting their ballots today in the Nice treaty referendum.
A total of 775 people on the islands are entitled to vote. Around 550 are on Arranmore island, a 25-minute boat ride from the Irish mainland; just nine live on Inishfree. The other three islands voting today are Tory, Inishboffin and Fola.
On Thursday 209 voters on Clare Island, Inishbiggle and Inishturk off Co Mayo are entitled to cast their ballots.
On the same day, 1,218 people off Co Galway - Inishmore, Inishmaan, Inisheer and Inishboffin - are entitled to vote participate.
Voting was arranged early on islands to ensure bad weather did not delay the return of ballot boxes to the mainland for Sunday's count.
However, the 451 voters on the seven islands off Co Cork in the south will go to the polls on Saturday, the same time as everyone on the mainland.
The referendum will be the first vote in Irish history to take place on a Saturday.
First results are expected later in the day from a limited number of polling stations fitted with electronic voting machines.
The final outcome is not likely to be known before Sunday afternoon, after the completion of hand-counting throughout the rest of the country.
