All was quiet in the beautiful church of St Jude the Apostle at Templeogue in south Dublin on Friday as light streamed through its multi-coloured stained-glass windows.
Spread among the church’s airy spaciousness were 13 women praying silently before the monstrance on the altar containing the Blessed Sacrament.
They included two nuns, taking part in a “Pray for the Protection of Life 24 Hours Adoration”, which began at 10pm on Thursday and was due to continue until until polls closed at 10 pm Friday.
An elderly couple joined in as did two men, separately, bringing the number to 17 while others came and went from the polling booth across the road at the Bishop Shanahan National School.
Three generations of women arrived. Irene Mooney, her daughter Louise and her daughter Caoimhe. Irene was "praying about the whole issue really, not just a No vote. I'd known some girls who have abortions are in a terrible state after it".
Also, “the fathers. I think. I’m kind of disappointed that the men seem to think, to a large extent, it’s a woman’s issue because I know a lot of men are hurt that the girls have had their babies aborted,” she said.
She pointed out there were not enough children for so many couples who wanted to adopt.
Louise was “praying for the right outcome for everyone involved. The feelings on it are very mixed. A lot of the discussions have been on the most extreme circumstances”.
Caoimhe (11) said she understood “that bad things do happen and people do get pregnant when they don’t mean to and stuff - but I don’t think it’s right to rid a child of the life that other people get to live”.
In the church foyer, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s statement on the defence of human life is displayed on two stands while pamphlets on abortion, Love Both leaflets,newsletters from last Sunday and No stickers are mixed together on tables.
Margaret O’Kane arrived with her terrier Gizmo. She had “just been voting” and was not part of the vigil. Gizmo, she said, “loves the church. She’s far better than I am.”
Mary McDonagh had taken part in the vigil on Thursday night and again on Friday. “We’ve great faith in prayer and that prayer will help that we’d have a No vote majority,” she said.
And if it is a Yes vote? “We’d just have to adjust to that, won’t we,” she said.
Also visiting the church were Tara Dillon and Sarah Barrett with Sarah's baby daughter Rosie. The two young women had just voted Yes and came into St Jude's to light a candle for a loved one.
Did they feel any conflict between voting Yes and being Catholic? “Yes, big time. It’s actually quite hard,” said Tara. “I’ve made my decision and I’m happy with that for myself . But it took time to come to that decision,” she said.
Sarah said: “I think the church’s stance has actually pushed me further away from being close to the church, to be honest with you. The stance they’ve taken is so strong. We’re obviously the women who are voting for it because we’re the ones who are having babies now and our friends.”
In her hand, Sarah had a Save the 8th pamphlet she found inside St Jude’s.
Under a heading “Call to stop Murder/Abortion” it read “wake up now my children and understand that the taking of life will lead the perpetrators into the eternal fires of Hell. There will be no return from this abyss, full of demons. Those same demons, who, through the work of the deceiver - Satan - convinces the murderer that what he or she is doing is right!”
Sarah said she was angry with some of the rhetoric in the campaign, “even reading this for a start”. In fact, she added she was “bringing it home to show my Mam”.
