Cork South West registered a Yes vote of 64.5 per cent compared to a No vote of 35.5 per cent today.
The constituency encompasses the Bandon, Bantry, Clonakilty and Skibbereen electoral areas. It runs from Dursey Island in the West to Ringabella in the east.
Minister of State at the Department of Health Fine Gael TD, Jim Daly, said the highlight of the campaign was the capacity that people showed to “engage, listen and learn.”
“People showed [an enormous capacity] to accept the reality that in Ireland today that what we have voted for is healthcare without Ryanair.
“That’s really what has been decided today. It is about bringing health care home. It is easier to curse the darkness but sometimes it is necessary to light a match and that is what people did on this.”
Mr Daly he was proud to be living in West Cork and was honoured to represent the constituency in the Dáil.
“I genuinely believed in their capacity all along to have the necessary courage and compassion to face this very difficult issue. It was a difficult issue and the scale of the Yes vote doesn’t take from that.
“But the people of all ages just stunned me throughout the campaign with their capacity to understand that this was a difficult issue and this was an issue that needed to be brought. We have now today brought this issue home and it is up to us today as legislators to no longer hide under English law.”
Mr Daly was the only TD of the three elected representatives in Cork SouthWest who took the decision to support the Yes campaign. He stressed that his two colleagues in the constituency, Michael Collins (Independent) and Margaret Murphy O’Mahony (Fianna Fáil) had very strong personal convictions on the other side.
“I respect everybody’s right to have their own views. I am very glad to have been there to represent the 60 plus per cent of the people who felt as strongly about this. It is an honour and a privilege but not something I would be gloating about.
“This effects a lot of people. Listening to their stories, listening to their silent testimonies of women throughout this campaign was deeply humbling to all of us.”
