‘A win for mothers and motherhood’ as No side celebrates referendum victory

Campaigner says ‘wokeness is dead’ as electorate delivers a definitive message to a government caught napping

No campaigner Michael McDowell as the counting continued at the RDS in Dublin. Photo: PA

Mark Tighe

As he sat in the results room in Dublin Castle where the overwhelming victory for the No sides was confirmed by the constituencies turning red on a big-screen map of Ireland, Michael McDowell’s phone thrummed with congratulatory messages.

With supportive TDs and senators such as Verona Murphy and Gerard Craughwell listening in, Mr McDowell read out a text he had received from a solicitor who asked if his leading role in the No campaigns would lead to a run for the Park: “We’ve had two Marys in a row, will we have two Michaels?”