Referendum on Court of Appeal comfortably passed

A new court of criminal appeal will be established after the referendum on the the proposal passed comfortably. All 43 constituencies constituency voted Yes.

The total valid, national poll was 1,240,135. There were 20,080 invalid votes and 1,220,055 valid. In favour of the proposal were 795,008 and there were 425,047 against. The majority in favour numbered 369,961.

The new court, between the High and Supreme Courts, will create 10 new juridical appointments. The court is intended to clear a significant backlog in cases and confine the Supreme Court to dealing with purely constitutional issues.

The strongest Yes vote came from Dublin South East, with 76.1 per cent in favour, with the weakest Yes from Donegal North East, at 56.3 per cent Yes.

Other strong Yes votes came from the Dun Laoighaire and Dublin South constituencies where the margin was up to three to one in favour.

Dun Laoighaire, which has an electorate of 79,207, had a valid poll of 36,108 votes. The result was 26,209 in favour of a new court and 9,899 against.

Dublin South, with an electorate of 101,884, saw 33,959 voted Yes and 12,334 voted No.

In Dublin South-West, with an electorate of 69,879, some 17,541 voted in favour of a new court while 8,700 voted against.

In Dublin Mid-West 16,194 people voted Yes as compared with 8,363 votes against. In Dublin West 16,266 voted in favour of the proposal, with 7,728 voting against.

Dublin North 19,258 in favour and 8,682 against.

Wicklow voted 66.2 per cent Yes (27,958) and 33.8 per cent No(14,264).

Kildare South voted 63.1 per cent (13,636) in favour of the proposal and 36.9 per cent (7,959) against, while neighbouring Kildare North 66.6 per cent (20,295) and 33.4 per cent (10,175) against.

Longford-Westmeath voted 61.8 (19,146) per cent in favour and 38.2 per cent (11,839) against.

The results from the Taoiseach’s constituency of Mayo show the electorate there voted 66.8 per cent (23,596) in favour and 33.2 per cent (11,713) against a new court.

Clare voted 66.7 per cent (19,385) Yes and 33.3 per cent (10,591) No.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter welcomed the Yes vote in the court of appeal referendum and said the new institution should be up and running by next autumn.

He said the projected cost would be some €3 million annually and nine judges are likely to be appointed to the new court but the number would be further considered in light of efforts to clear a Supreme Court backlog.