Kerry result: Yes 58.27% and No 41.73%

Leading No campaigners were visibly shocked when they saw the votes coming out of boxes from rural areas.

The Listowel solicitor and veteran anti-abortion campaigner Robert Pierse, who is now in his 80s, told The Irish Times: "I am shocked to my inner core. I really am. I am very disturbed emotionally - as are a lot of people."

Most of the TDs and Senators in Kerry called strongly for a No vote. However, Fianna Fáil Senator Ned O’Sullivan of Listowel was a Yes voter.

“I want to be part of the Ireland of the future, not the Ireland of the past,” he said.

Abortion referendum: Yes secures landslide victory

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Offaly-North Tipperary results: 58% of voters favour repeal

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Cork North West result: Yes 60.10% and No 39.90%

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Louth result: 66.5% vote to remove Eighth Amendment

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Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris said the result was “about doing the right thing”.

Fine Gael Senator Paul Coghlan, a No voter, said he had anticipated the result.

Independent TDs and brothers Michael and Danny Healy-Rae from Kilgarvan had called for a No vote and the village had been plastered with No posters but the people of Kilgarvan returned a clear Yes majority.

There was a loud cheer at the Yes tally by the other parties when the results of the Kilgarvan boxes were opened.

Michael Healy-Rae, who arrived after the result was announced, denied he was out of touch or out of sync with the people he was elected to represent, adding: “42 per cent of the people of Kerry had the exact same opinion as I did.”

The final result announced by Padraig Burke, returning officer, put the electorate at 111,108; total poll at 69,345; spoilt votes at 209. A total of 40,285 people voted Yes in Kerry, with 28, 851 people voting No.