The Government 'used a guillotine' to shove through the referendums on Family and Care, a former Justice Minister has said.
Voting began with a slow start yesterday, with turnout results projected to be mixed across the country by the time the polls closed at 10pm.
Indications so far are suggesting 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.
He told The Anton Savage Show 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.
"In every argument that was televised the Yes side came off far worse.
"We're now realising that Ministers were saying things about the Attorney-General's advice which simply just didn't stack up.
"There'll be accountability I assume for that at a later stage."
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'Unthought out social experiment'
Senator McDowell said the Government rushed the legislation through without proper scrutiny.
"They used the guillotine to shove this through both Houses of the Oireachtas without proper debate," he said.
"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.
"They just assumed that they would just run it past the people of the country with vacuous posters saying, 'Family/Care: Yes'.
"For heaven's sake, that's not the way to amend the fundamental law of our country".
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".
Keep up-to-date with the results as they come in with Newstalk.com's referendum widget at the top of the homepage
