The Green Party leader has appeared to admit the Government has lost the referendums on Care and the Family, suggesting the case it put to the public 'didn't win'.
Minister Eamon Ryan initially said there was still a long way to go but has conceded that it looks like both referendums will be defeated.
Speaking at the Dublin City count centre in the RDS, he said he doesn't accept that the campaign by the Green Party went wrong.
"We do own the working and obviously the case we presented didn't win and we reflect that and make sure that, in everything we do, we try and reflect the vote of the people in terms of how we invest in care in our country.
"That I think is the important thing out of this.
"You could looks at various arguments why people vote no [in] one referendum versus the other.
"But for me it doesn't show an underlying lack of interest in providing care, particularly in the family," he added.
Counting in the Family and Care Referendums at Dublin's RDS, 9-3-24. Image: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ieVoting began with a slow start yesterday, with turnout results projected to be mixed across the country by the time the polls closed at 10pm.
Early indications suggested a loss for the Government on both questions.
Michael McDowell had been calling for a No vote in the two referendums, suggesting they could have major unintended consequences for people in long-term relationships.
The former Justice Minister earlier told Newstalk the results are clear.
"I think the people of Ireland, who are the sovereign power in this State, looked at this set of proposals and said no," he said.
"The Government failed completely to convince the electorate that these changes to the Constitution were worthwhile.
"They used the guillotine to shove this through both Houses of the Oireachtas without proper debate.
"They cast aside all the amendments even from people who eventually ended up on their own side.
"They didn't have an pre-legislative scrutiny where we could have had officials in to discuss the implications for immigration law, succession law, taxation law - they just made all of that impossible.
Senator McDowell said the results will have a 'short-term effect' for the Government "that they are badly out of touch with public opinion".
He added that they may 'learn a lesson' that they should deal with bigger issues like housing and asylum seekers rather than an "unthought-out social experimentation with the Constitution".
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Additional reporting: Andrew Lowth
