AFP/Belfast

The Irish Times said it was a “big setback” for Kenny, who personally led the campaign to ditch the senate and whose initiative “now lies in tatters.”

Another headline said Kenny had been “humbled” by the vote in Friday’s referendum, in which 51.7% of voters rejected the proposal to abolish the senate, or Seanad Eireann. Many newspapers pointed to the impact the defeat could have on the coalition government’s annual budget due to be unveiled on October 15.

“In the run-up to a difficult budget next week, he has been thrust into a position of weakness,” the Irish Times noted.

The political correspondent of the Sunday Business Post judged the referendum reversal a “stunning reversal for government, and for its leader Enda Kenny in particular” and said the effects would “reverberate for the rest of the coalition’s term of office.”

“It will make the job of governing harder for them, beginning with the budget negotiations still ongoing and moving towards an immovable deadline,” he wrote.

Kenny had shocked members of his own centre-right Fine Gael party when he first announced his plans to hold a vote to scrap the 60-seat chamber. Throughout the campaign, opinion polls showed his plans were on track to pass, buoyed by the support of his coalition partner in government and opposition party, Sinn Fein.

Kenny argued that closing the senate would save around 20mn euros ($27mn) per year, and described it as elitist and undemocratic. However, opponents disputed this figure and countered that the upper house was needed to hold the government to account.

The final results revealed late Saturday showed that 634,437 people had voted against the plans, with 591,937 in favour, with a turnout of 39.2%.