Tánaiste Joan Burton has said a high voter turnout in the same-sex marriage referendum will be crucial for it to pass.

“Traditionally, people do not vote in such high numbers in referendums as they do in general elections,” said the Tánaiste, who is campaigning for a Yes vote. “People need to go back to all the people they know, family friends and so on, to make sure they vote and get others to vote.”

In an interview with The Irish Times, Ms Burton dismissed the possibility of a majority of silent No voters. At the same time, she emphasised that a "get out the vote" drive was important.

“I don’t think in any referendum you can afford to be complacent,” she said. “The history of such polls shows there is no room for complacency.

“The really crucial element will be turnout. If all the people who are indicating they are voting Yes actually turn out, I am extremely confident that it will be carried.”

Ms Burton had found that women and young people were particularly supportive in her canvass around the country.

Reticent men

“A lot of men and older men are very reticent about discussing the issue,” she said. “I will say to you that at times it’s a difficult subject for them to talk about. Where you meet men who are very reticent, I assume that many of them are potentially No voters or will vote No.”

Ms Burton said the Yes campaign had been primarily a national conversation.

“It’s about personal stories and real personal stories about people who have talked about their own life experience. The people who have most impressed are mothers and fathers and grannies and grandads of people who are gay, saying I believe it should be okay for them to marry.”

The Tánaiste criticised the No campaign for its focus on issues such as surrogacy, which she said was upsetting.

“I found some of those posters upsetting, suggesting that the only contact with the mother was in the nine months in the woman’s womb. This is in the context of a society where the norm for a lot of children was to be placed in same-sex institutions where they didn’t have a family. It’s a mark of how Ireland has changed.”

On the controversy over a reduction in funding for Accord, the Catholic Marriage Care Service, Ms Burton said the budgets of many services had been cut. It was a coincidence that it had happened now with Accord, she said.

“Personally, I think Accord provides very good services for people. I think there is not an organisation or a department that is publicly funded that has not taken some hits in relation to its funding.”