While the threat of rain hung in grey skies and wild winds caused havoc with polling station signs, reports of the turnout so far in Dublin varied from brisk to quiet in today's abortion referendum.
A steady flow of voters bustled through Ballyroan National School this morning - one of the polling stations in the Dublin South constituency.
Mass goers, retired couples, mothers with children in tow, and the odd student complete with ruck-sac and cycling clips, all meandered into the school to cast their vote in the 25th referendum on the Constitution since 1937.
Cheerful greetings and good-humoured calls bounced around the school hall as people made their way to one of the 14 tables lined up to facilitate over 10,000 registered voters in the area. By 10.30 a.m. the estimated turnout was about 7 per cent.
The turnout is always high in the area, said the chief presiding officer. "It will be busy until about 11 a.m., then again at lunch time and late afternoon around 4 p.m. In the evening it will pick up at about 7.30-ish."
The inspector for Dublin South Sheriff Office, Ms Niamh Fitzpatrick said it was too early to judge the overall count.
On her second stop in a tour of the 12 schools in her area, Ms Fitzpatrick said so far everything is running smoothly. "Knocklyon National School seemed busier than here [Ballyroan NS], there was more movement of people but it too early to tell."
The congenial atmosphere in Ballyroan contrasted to the silence at St Clare’s National School on Harold Cross Road in Dublin South East. A trickle would almost overstate the flow of voters this morning. About 4 per cent so far said the presiding officer.
A more settled area than neighbouring Rathmines and Rathgar, there are over 1,100 voters on the register, and the turnout is usually within the national norm for each poll.
Hardly a voter was in sight about at 11.15 a.m. making the four people manning the two tables seem like a crowd. It would get busier in the afternoon and evening, the presiding officer said.
The polling station at Mercy Convent Natioanl School on Baggot Street Lower was even quieter - nobody bar the two people at the table and a local Garda. So far 55 out 590 had made their way to vote, and the presiding officer who expected no more than the usual 200 to turnout overall.
There is an elderly resident population otherwise it is mainly a commercial area, the Garda offered by way of explanation.
St Andrews Resource Centre on Pearse Street, also in the Dublin South East constituency, had a busier hum though voting was still "fairly slow".
With the rain barely holding off outside, it looked it was going to be a long day for many holding the fort at polling stations around the Dublin for the remaining hours.