Counting is due to get underway soon for the family and care referendums shortly, which has been projected to have one of the lowest turnouts in State history. 

The counts for the referendum will get underway at 9am today. Counting will first begin for the family amendment before the care amendment. 

Results will likely be announced separately this afternoon and this evening. 

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. 

According to Ireland Votes, the national turnout rate will be within 38-48%, with the biggest jump in voting between 5pm and 8pm. 

Turnout is estimated to be below 30% in areas such as Cavan town, rural Longford and north Kildare.  

It is projected to have reached over 50% in parts of Cork, Limerick and Dublin, including the Educate Together school in Lucan, which saw 70% turnout. 

Mayo County averaged 40% at the close of poll, with larger turnout in towns than rural polling stations. 

Voting count following an election. Image: Mark Waugh / Alamy Stock Photo

If turnout does not exceed 50%, it will be one of the lowest turnouts in recent history.  

In 2015, 60.5% of people turned out to vote on same-sex marriage and in 2018, 64.1% voted on whether to legalise abortion.  

However, it would exceed the 43.8% turnout in 2018 who turned out to vote on the issue of blasphemy. 

The 1979 referendum on reforming the Seanad saw the lowest turnout in Irish history at 28.57%.

The referendum which sought to turn the university constituency into three separate constituencies passed, although the reform was never implemented.

Family and care referendum

In this referendum, it would amend Article 41 to "provide for a wider concept of Family" in the Constitution. 

It would change the wording around the family so that the Constitution no longer states that the family is founded on marriage. 

Instead, the State would be obliged to recognise the family as being "founded on marriage or on other durable relationships". 

The second - the Care Amendment - asks voters if they wish to delete two constitutional articles, one that refers a woman's "life within the home" and the other to her 'duties in the home'. 

Should they vote yes, a new provision about carers will be inserted, which will say that the State will recognise "that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved".