Film star Saoirse to tick 'Yes' as she casts her first vote

Jason Kennedy

Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan revealed she was excited and honoured that her first vote would be cast in the marriage-equality referendum.

The 21-year-old 'Grand Budapest Hotel' star urged young people to get out and vote this Friday.

Speaking at the Yes Equality 'Your Yes Matters' vote campaign launch, Ms Ronan said this was an opportunity for her generation to create a fair and equal society.

"I'm really excited about it and I'm really honoured that my first vote is going to be a 'Yes' vote for marriage equality," she said.

"If it's a 'Yes' vote, it means we're standing with the best of them. We're forward-thinking, we're fair, we're just and we're equal.

"If we don't, then we're none of those things and I would be extremely disappointed."

Saoirse Ronan and Eamon Farrell at the launch the ‘Your Yes Matters’ campaign in Dublin yesterday

The actress said she would support anyone in her family if they came out as gay.

"It's not going to affect anyone except the LGBT community. If my kid comes to me and says that he or she is gay, I want them to have the same rights as anyone else," she said.

Joining the actress were Steven Mannion and his husband Eamon Farrell, who spoke of his delight that his Hollywood actor brother Colin Farrell was actively backing a 'Yes' vote.

"He's done so much over the last few years. He's done so much over my life in supporting me. He's an amazing brother," he said.

Meanwhile, the Union of Students in Ireland expect students to be queuing up to cast their vote. The USI's president Laura Harmon said nearly 28,000 new student voters were directly registered by USI this year.