Residents of 12 islands around Ireland have voted in the Children's Referendum.

Islanders off the coasts of Donegal, Mayo and Galway traditionally vote ahead of the mainland to make sure bad weather does not hamper the return of boxes on time for the count.

The Aer Corps brought the ballot box by helicopter to Tory Island, while ferries and boats transported the boxes to other islands.

Earlier, turnout on most islands was reported to have been slow.

However, reports from Inisturk say that that over 50% of the islanders on the register have cast their votes.

The presiding officer said that all of the people who were eligible to vote had done so and the people who had not voted missed the poll because they were on the mainland and could not get back to vote on a week day.

He said the turnout would have been higher if voting was on a Saturday like the rest of the country.

The King of Tory,Patsy Dan Rodgers, was one of the first people to cast his vote.

He said he felt islanders had not been given enough information in advance of the referendum.

Over 1,100 people are registered to vote on the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway.

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Islands voting in Children's Referendum