Counting in the two referendums on amendments to the Constitution will take place tomorrow, following the conclusion of the vote in the presidential election.
It is likely that the proposed amendment to reduce judges’ pay will be overwhelmingly carried.
The acceptance of the amendment on giving power to the Houses of the Oireachtas to conduct inquiries into matters they deemed to be of public importance is far from certain.
No tallies on the outcome of the constitutional vote were conducted today, but those involved in the tallies for the presidential election and Dublin West byelection suggested the Oireachtas amendment did not receive decisive support.
However, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he was optimistic both referendums will be carried.
Speaking at Dublin Castle, where results of the presidential and referendum polls are being coordinated, Mr Shatter said he thought it was very important that “we have accountability in Irish life”.
“Many of you here (the media) have for years criticised the Irish parliament, the Seanad, the Dáil and the committee system because no one is ever held to account for anything,” he said, in relation to the Abbeylara constitutional amendment.
“Reports are published but there are never consequences. Nobody is identified as being responsible and everything that goes wrong in this country seems to be put down to systemic failures. We need to have the same accountability powers attached to every other parliament in the world."
Asked if people were poorly informed about the referendums, Mr Shatter said the Government had put the information out there but that perhaps the media had not paid it enough attention as the presidential campaign was going on. He said an amount of misinformation had been put out about the referendums.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said he did not know what the outcome of the two constitutional referendums would be because he did not believe there had been any serious tallying of the ballot papers. "We really don't know and we won't know until they are counted."
Asked if it had been a mistake to tie the referendums in with the presidential election, he said he did not know and he did not think anyone had any idea what was in the papers "other than hunches that they've drawn from looking in over the barriers today".
On the presidency, Mr Shatter said he believed Michael D Higgins would make a fine president.
He said it was a difficult day for his Fine Gael colleague Gay Mitchell and his family and it would take the presidential candidate time to come to terms with the outcome.
“Politics can be very cruel on occasion,” Mr Shatter said. “He is a person of integrity and decency. He fought the good fight in this campaign and perhaps at the end of the day the public were seeking someone they perceived to be somewhat independent from party politics.”
Mr Shatter said the presidential election was very different to general and European elections, in which Mr Mitchell has had success in the past. “It’s a personality election. The public don’t vote on party lines. I don’t think this is about the Fine Gael party in any shape or form,” he said.
“I think it’s won by the public’s perception of individuals and unfortunately for Gay, who is a genuinely committed individual who has dedicated his life to public service, this time it didn’t work. It’s nothing to do with him not having the support of the Fine Gael party.”
Asked if Mr Mitchell was the wrong candidate, Mr Shatter said Mr Mitchell had been selected by party process and that the party had to live with the decision to run him.
Fine Gael was still performing well in party polls and Enda Kenny remained a popular leader, he added.