"There are often these images of Ireland as this European backwater, stuck in the dark days of suffocating religious conformity," says O'Cathain, 23, from Athlone. "A No vote will reinforce this view and be hugely damaging to Ireland's image internationally and possibly indeed to the entire equality movement as it picks up across the world... This is our chance to send a clear message to the rest of the world about the type of society we are in Ireland and I wouldn't miss it for the world."