Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has welcomed the Constitutional Convention’s decision to recommend a change to the Constitution to allow for same-sex marriage.

The convention, which is made up of politicians and ordinary citizens, voted overwhelmingly in favour of the change.

In a statement, Eamon Gilmore said it was not the State’s role to pass judgement on who a person wants to spend their life with.

He said the current laws represent the "past, not the future."

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter also backed the Convention's recommendation.