Polls point to Higgins winning but a late surge puts Casey in second place

Exit polls for RTE and the Irish Times/IpsosMRBI indicate that Michael D. Higgins will be returned to serve as president for another seven years.

The biggest talking point however,  is the late surge for Donegal-based Peter Casey.

The polls indicate the following  - RTÉ poll figures first; Irish Times/IpsosMRBI figures in brackets:

Michael D. Higgins - 58.1% (56%);

Peter Casey - 20.7% (21%);

Liadh Ní Riada - 7.4% (8%);

Joan Freeman - 6.3% (7%);

Sean Gallagher – 5.5% (6%);

Gavin Duffy – 2% (2%).

Peter Casey’s controversial remarks on the Traveller community appear to have boosted his appeal significantly. Casey’s jump in support has come predominantly from voters in rural areas (28 per cent) and in Connacht/Ulster (29 per cent).

The referendum to delete the reference to blasphemy in the Constitution was, as expected, overwhelmingly passed, with the exit polls predicting that between 71 to  69 per cent of voters have backed the proposal, while 31 per cent have voted to retain the blasphemy provision.