People in the Republic of Ireland have overwhelmingly voted to liberalise the country's divorce law, making it easier for couples to separate.Married couples currently have to prove to a court that they have been separated for four of the previous five years before it can become official.However, early estimates suggest more than 80% have voted yes in Friday's referendum after being asked to vote on whether to reduce the period separated couples have to wait.Josepha Madigan, Irish Culture minister and advocate of the liberalisation, thanked those who voted in the referendum."I think it's an emphatic unequivocal result, and even though we have a very low marital breakdown in Ireland, it just demonstrates the amount of people who stand in solidarity with them."It's a real groundswell of support and compassion for all those people suffering from marital breakdown and I really want to thank the Irish people for coming out and supporting them."Voters were asked to amend the state's constitution to hand politicians the power to set the length of the "pause period".More from Republic Of IrelandIf handed the responsibility, the Fine Gael-led government wants to halve the period from four years to two.Those advocating a No vote had warned against the prospect of "quickie divorces", expressing concern about giving politicians a free hand to potentially reduce the waiting time even further in the future.