#DivorceRef: Predicted outcome reflects 'deep well of kindness' among Irish public

The predicted outcome of the divorce referendum reflects the "deep well of kindness" among the Irish public Minister Josepha Madigan has said.

The Culture Minister, who had been key to instigating the referendum to take divorce out of the Constitution, said the changes will bring about significant reform.

An RTE and TG4 exit poll by Red C suggests that 87% of people have voted in favour of the referendum with 12% voting against and 1% refusing to answer or saying they don't know. The result is expected to be announced this evening.

Ms Madigan said: "I think there is a deep well of kindness in the Irish people, this ultimately wasn't about rocking the system it was about humanising it

"I think people have shown that they have a solidarity with people going through marital breakdown, though separation and divorce.

"I think people felt it was a reasonable proposal, it was a moderate proposal, it will mean significant reform for those thousand of people out there who are locked and trapped in a legal limbo-land. So it's a great day for those people," she said after arriving in Dublin's RDS count centre.

Ms Madigan added that she wasn't surprised by the surge in support for the Green Party.

Exit poll @rtenews @NuachtTG4 #referendum | https://t.co/E30PJlngcn pic.twitter.com/F6mmlNwv5G

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 24, 2019

"If you look at the past year in particular, people like Mary Robinson coming out saying we need to tackle climate change, if this generation doesn't tackle it we are going to be in major difficulty and that really resonated with the public."

However she said Fine Gael in Government are committed to tackling climate change and Minister Richard Bruton will be bringing a climate action plan to Cabinet shortly.

"We are demonstrating that we are tackling these issues at the moment, we had a Fine Gael think-in back in January solely dedicated to climate change, there are a number of tasks we are doing across Departments, it's the first time there has been real collaboration and cross-party collaboration on this."