Same-sex poll unlikely to get go-ahead for 2014

The Cabinet will today agree to hold a referendum on same-sex marriage, but it is unlikely to announce when voters will get the opportunity to decide on whether to extend marriage rights to gay couples.

Sources have indicated that Taoiseach Enda Kenny will agree to holding the vote “during the lifetime” of the Government with sometime in late 2014 or early 2015 being the most likely date.

Yesterday, Alan Shatter, the justice minister, said he suspected the Irish people were suffering from referendum fatigue following the recent votes of Seanad abolition and the Court of Appeal and he felt it unlikely another poll would be held in 2014.