"The great novelist John McGahern once wrote that Ireland has never been a nation, but a collection of tens of thousands of little republics called families. My sense is that Irish voters flooded to the polls to support their gay daughters and sons, their siblings, neighbours, workmates and friends."

 Joseph O’Connor’s most recent novel is The Thrill of It All

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/24/same-sex-vote-makes-ireland-a-kinder-fairer-place?CMP=fb_gu