WATCH: First ballet box opened in the Laois Count on the abortion referendum #referendum2018

The counting of votes is underway in the Abortion Referendum on the Thirty-Sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill.

Counting in the Laois constituency started at St Mary's Hall Portlaoise.

A strong turnout was reported across the country on Referendum Day with the excellent weather seen as a factor in helping to get the electorate out.

The final national result is expected to be declared from Dublin Castle in the late afternoon.

Polls

Two exit polls conducted for the Irish Times and RTÉ both suggest that the Yes side in the Eighth Referendum is set to win comfortably.

The Irish Times poll suggests that the result of the referendum is 68% in favour of yes to 32% for no.

The Irish Times exit poll was conducted by Ipsos/MRBI on 4,000 respondents at 160 polling stations in every constituency. The margin for error is estimated at +/- 1%.

The highest yes vote was in Dublin, according to the exit poll, with 77% of people voting yes. Support among women was 70% in favour of repealing the Eighth, while it suggests that 87% of 18-24-year-olds voted for a repeal.

An RTÉ exit poll has projected a Yes vote of 69.4% with a No vote of 30.6%.

The sample size was 3,800 with a margin of error of +/- 1.6%.

The exit poll was conducted by RTÉ in conjunction with a number of Irish universities and was carried out by Behaviour & Attitudes.