Polls have closed in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment.

Voting began at 7.00am, with many areas reporting high turnout early on.

However figures suggested turnout slowed after an initial rush.

An exit poll published by the Irish Times has predicted the country has voted "by a landslide margin" to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

The poll suggests the margin of victory for the Yes side will be 68% to 32%.

Image via @IpsosMRBI on Twitter

The highest Yes vote was in Dublin, where 77% of voters backed the proposals - the poll says.

The majority in favour of repeal in rural Ireland, at 60%, was smaller than in urban Ireland.

The poll also found that women voted in favour of the proposal by 70% voting and 30% against.

Image via @IpsosMRBI on Twitter

Support among men was weaker, but still high - at 65% to 35%.

While younger voters were also in favour of the change, with majorities in all age groups under-65.

The exit poll was conducted by Ipsos/MRBI among 4,000 respondents at 160 polling stations in every constituency.

Interviewing began at 7.00am on Friday and continued throughout the day.

The poll is estimated to have a margin of error of +/- 1.5%.

A second exit poll from RTÉ shows a similar margin: the Yes vote comes in at 69.4% with the No vote on 30.6%.

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

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

A breakdown of the poll projects that 65.9% of men voted Yes, with 72.1% women voting in favour of repeal.

Among the 18-24 age group, the Yes vote was projected at 87.6%, while for 25-34 year-olds it was 84.6%.

Turnout

Some turnout predictions were as high as 70% in urban areas in Wicklow.

Athlone was reported at around 60%, with Roscommon on 51%.

Parts of Kildare saw turnout as high as 78%.

Some 3.2 million people were eligible to vote.

The count begins on Saturday morning, with the first boxes being opened at 9.00am.

Newstalk will have extensive coverage across the weekend on-air and online.

We have reporters in count centres across the country, and will bring you the latest results as they come in.