Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty has said Repeal campaigners will not accept a No vote in the forthcoming abortion referendum.

“The people who have brought us, and who have been very vocal on this issue for a number of years, they are certainly not going to accept a No,” Ms Doherty told The Irish Times in Paris, where she was attending St Patrick’s Day events.

She refused to say whether the Government would call a second poll in the event of a rejection, but she did say she envisaged the pro-choice movement would strongly push for one.

She also referred to her previous pro-life views, based on her Catholic faith, as being “born out of ignorance”.

“It was only when I informed myself that I realised just how ignorant I actually was,” she said.

Pro-life groups reacted with shock and dismay to her remarks, with Savethe8th calling them “repugnant and disgraceful” and the Pro-Life Campaign describing them as showing contempt towards voters.