A new poll shows that 66 percent of Irish adults support same-sex marriage.

According to the Journal.ie, the Behaviour and Attitudes poll in the Sunday Times found that among the 971 people who were surveyed earlier this month believe in gay marriage with legal entitlements.

The poll showed support for gay marriage is slightly stronger among women than men and is higher in urban areas than in rural areas.

While the majority of those polled believe in legal same-sex marriage, 26 percent believed that current legislation should remain where it stands where gay couples can only enter a civil partnership and eight percent said they did not know or had no opinion on the issue.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has described the issue of gay marriage as the “civil rights issue of this generation."

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