Ireland has voted in huge numbers in the marriage-equality referendum and the result is an overwhelming YES. The power of the Irish Catholic Church to control the political landscape in the Republic of Ireland is over and I for one am delighted on both counts.

Ireland has become the first country in the world to introduce marriage-equality through a democratic referendum of all it's people.

The changes that have been wrought in social attitudes in this country over the past twenty five years are astounding and I am proud to be of a generation that have shaken off the shackles of religious control that stifled the democratic process in this country for generations.