Minister of State Brian Hayes has said he is not surprised his Dublin South-West constituency has voted No.
The Fine Gael TD said the Yes side lost by 500 votes in the constituency, which had a history of voting No. He was speaking in Dublin Castle.
"The result in Dublin South-West was virtually 50-50. It's no different from urban Cork or other parts of urban Dublin. I'm not surprised because it has a tradition of voting No. It's been really affected by unemployment," Mr Hayes said.
"The reason people voted No in such large numbers was because they felt totally disillusioned."
The constituency is represented by three Government TDs: Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte and his Labour colleague Eamon Maloney, as well as Mr Hayes. The fourth deputy is Sinn Féin's Sean Crowe.
Mr Hayes said he thought talk of a class divide in Irish politics was being "over-egged".
He said one-third of housing in his constituency was local authority accommodation, and some of those estates had returned a significant Yes vote.
Mr Hayes said he suspected the vast majority of people who had lost their jobs in recent years had voted No.
"We've got to heed that message and get those people back on side, persuade them we can turn the country around," he said.
