Ireland's gay marriage referendum: all aboard the Yes boat

Boats and planes of recent Irish emigrants are leaving England this week in an organised campaign to boost the numbers of Yes voters in the world's first referendum on same-sex marriage.

London's Euston station will be even busier than usual on Friday morning, as Irish emigrants living in England flock back to Dublin just in time to vote in their home country's historic referendum on same-sex marriage.

The "Get the Boat 2 Vote" campaign, which has attracted interest from hundreds of Irish voters, was set up to encourage those living in England to use their vote, even if the cost of a flight home would be prohibitive.

Further afield, the "We're coming back" campaign has been focused on Irish nationals living all over the world - including Holywood actress Saoirse Ronan - while Twitter-friendly messages like "Be my Yes", aimed at getting those eligible to use their vote, have spread like wildfire on social media.

One Dubliner now living in Australia hit the headlines after emptying his bank account to book a 9,600 mile flight home to vote Yes.

'18 month' rule

Physically showing up at a polling station is the only way Irish nationals living abroad can vote, as Ireland is one of only three countries in Europe which doesn't permit them postal votes.

Irish legislation is also strict when it comes to permissions on emigrants returning to vote: Irish citizens living abroad can only take part if they have left the country less than 18 months previously.

60,000 emigrants eligible

Recent population data puts the number of Irish nationals who left the country within this time frame at an estimated 60,000. For a country of just 4.95 million, this is a significant fraction of the electorate.

The sizeable community of Irish emigrants who can't vote have nonetheless been vocal in their attempts to encourage voters to get to the polls, via the "Be my Yes"and "Use your Vote" campaigns.

Joey Kavanagh, 29, (pictured left) who works in arts administration in London, set up the "Get the Boat 2 Vote" campaign within hours of the referendum date being set for May 22nd.

It has helped organise groups travelling from England to Ireland on Friday and in the days before the vote, but many more recent emigrants are expected to take the faster option of flying.

An Ipsos MRBI survey for the Irish Times put the Yes vote at 70 per cent, the result is by no means secured.

90% of students in favour of Yes

If the UK's recent general election wasn't enough of a warning not to trust the polls, Ireland's 1995 referendum on divorce passed by just 0.6 per cent, despite opinion polls beforehand suggesting that around 70 per cent would vote yes.

Mr Kavanagh said he felt compelled to encourage as many people to use their vote as possible - especially as the votes of recent emigrants may be most significant to the Yes vote. A poll by the Irish Students' Union found that 90 per cent intend to vote Yes.

"The sad reality is that a lot of people who emigrated are young graduates," he said, "and opinion polls suggest that young people are more likely to vote ‘yes'."

The campaign against same-sex marriage has been largely centered on the issue of parenthood. The No campaign says that children should have a biological right to a father and mother, and that the legislation being proposed will threaten this and redefine marriage.

Oonagh Murphy, 28, resident director at The Apollo theatre in London's West End, who is travelling with the "Get the Vote" crew doesn't agree.

She is gay and says that when she told friends and family in Ireland, she noticed a tangible shift in the way people talked to her about the future, marriage and babies. "Often in conversation, it seemed others believed those things were no longer considered available to me, since I didn't identify as straight any more," she said.

"If we could shift the perception of what constitutes a relationship, what makes a parent, what the qualities of a good childhood are, and be more open in our ideas about gender and sexuality, we could create a different type of society."

For Shaun Dunne, 26, a Yes vote would be life-changing. "I've been shouted at for holding hands with someone," he said. "I've been nearly attacked a few times. But I've also experienced the subtler forms of homophobia. The insinuations, the insensitive questions, the stares."

'I will have serious reservations about rushing back'

For many of Ireland's emigrants, the same-sex referendum is about more than one single change to legislation: it is about the kind of country Ireland is becoming - and whether it's one that they want to return to.

Lorcan O'Cathain, founder of Change Ireland, which is helping to fund emigrants journeys home to vote, says the referendum will send a clear message about Irish society, for better or worse.

"There are often these images of Ireland as this European backwater, stuck in the dark days of suffocating religious conformity," says O'Cathain, 23, from Athlone. "A No vote will reinforce this view and be hugely damaging to Ireland's image internationally and possibly indeed to the entire equality movement as it picks up across the world... This is our chance to send a clear message to the rest of the world about the type of society we are in Ireland and I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Sarah Fox, a product designer in her late 30s, who is setting sail to Sandycove, Dublin to vote agrees. Although she describes herself as "happily married" to a man, she is passionate about voting for "equal treatment for everyone" and echoes what many pro-Yes emigrants feel about the outcome:

"If the Yes side aren't successful in this referendum I will have serious reservations about rushing back, as it will be a clear message that the perception of a modern, forward thinking Ireland is an illusion."

The pathway to Ireland's same sex marriage referendum

On May 22 Irish voters will decide whether to allow gay couples to marry.