Ireland

• Constitution (2022)


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Constitutional Background

History and News

• 11 June 2019: 38th Amendment of the Constitution Act: provided for changes to provisions regulating divorce by removing the constitutional requirement for a defined period of separation, and by substituting a provision on the recognition of foreign divorces (Art. 41). 
• 27 Nov 2018: 37th Amendment of the Constitution Act: provided for the removal of the word blasphemous from the Constitution (Art. 40).
• 18 Sep 2018: 36th Amendment of the Constitution Act: provided for the regulation of termination of pregnancy (Art. 40).
• 29 Aug 2015: 34th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided that persons may marry without distinction as to their sex.
• 22 May 2015: A proposal for the Thirty-fifth amendment to the Constitution was put to the people and was rejected (Age of Eligibility for Election to the Office of President).
• 28 April 2015: 31st Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided for an Article expressly relating to children.
• 1 Nov 2013: 33rd Amendment of the Constitution Act.: Provided for the establishment of a Court of Appeal.
• 4 Oct 2013: A proposal for the Thirty-second Amendment to the Constitution was put to the people and was rejected (Abolition of Seanad Eireann).
• 27 June 2012: 30th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to ratify the Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union.
• 30 Jan 2012: Prime Minister Kenny agrees with the Fiscal Pact, which was proposed at the EU special summit. It includes, among other things, a constitutionally embedded debt limit for all contractors.
• 17 Nov 2011: 29th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Amended section 5 of Article 35 of the Constitution.
• 15 Oct 2009: 28th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon.
• 24 June 2004: 27th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Irish citizenship of children of non-national parents.
• 7 Nov 2002: 26th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to ratify the Treaty of Nice.
• 27 March 2002: 23rd Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowing the State to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
• 7 March 2002: 21st Amendment of the Constitution Act: Prohibition of death penalty and removal of references to death penalty.
• 6 March 2002: A proposal for the Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution was put to the people and was rejected (Protection of Pregnancy in Human Life).
• 7 June 2001: Three proposals were put to the people, the Twenty-first, Twenty-third and the Twenty-fourth Amendments. The people rejected the Twenty-fourth (which dealt with the Treaty of Nice) and approved the Twenty-first and Twenty-third.
• 2001: The Twenty-second Amendment of the Constitution Act (relating to the removal of a judge from office and providing for a body to be established by law to investigate or cause to be investigated conduct constituting misbehaviour by a judge or affected by incapacity of a judge) was not passed by the Houses of Parliament.
• 23 June 1999: 20th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided constitutional recognition of the role of local government and that local elections are held at least every five years.
• 3 June 1998: 19th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to consent to be bound by the British-Irish Agreement done at Belfast on 10 April 1998 and provided that certain further amendments to the Constitution, notably to Articles 2 and 3, would come into effect when that agreement entered into force.
• 3 June 1998: 18th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to ratify the Treaty of Amsterdam.
• 20 May 1998: The High Court rejects an application by Mr Denis Riordan for an injunction preventing the referendum.
• 10 April 1998: An Agreement on the future of Northern Ireland is reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations at Belfast.
• 25 March 1998: The Supreme Court dismisses an application by the Campaign to Separate Church and State to prevent the Minister for Education paying chaplains in community schools, ruling that such payments were constitutional, but adding that it was constitutionally impermissible for a chaplain to instruct any child in a religion other than the child's own without the consent of parents.
• 14 Nov 1997: 17th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided that the confidentiality of discussions at meetings of the Government would be respected save only where the High Court, in certain specified circumstances, determined that disclosure should be made.
• 19 July 1997 IRA declare unequivocal restoration of 1994 ceasefire.
• 15 May 1997: The Supreme Court declares the Employment Equality Bill unconstitutional, ruling that clauses in the Bill outlawing discrimination against the disabled would interfere with the legitimate interests and rights of other parties, especially with the property rights of employers. The Bill had been referred to the Supreme Court by the President on 3 April 1997. 
• 12 Dec 1996: 16th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided for the refusal to bail by a court to a person charged with a serious offence where it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence by that person.
• 28 November 1996: A referendum on the Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution Bill is held. The proposed amendment of the Constitution, reads as follows: "Provision may be made by law for the refusal of bail by a court to a person charged with a serious offence where it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence by that person." The majority of the people (by a margin of 384,772 votes, or 74.83 per cent) vote in favour of the amendment. The turnout, at 29.21 per cent, was the second-lowest of any referendum since the founding of the State. The Minister of Justice expects legislation implementing the bail referendum amendment to be passed by March, 1997.
• 17 June 1996: 15th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided for the dissolution of marriage in certain specified circumstances.
• 12 June 1996: Supreme Court confirms Second Divorce Referendum. 
• 9 Feb 1996: IRA ends 17-month ceasefire with a massive bomb in London's docklands. 
• 24 Nov 1995: Success of Second Divorce Referendum to allow divorce under certain conditions.
• 23 Dec 1992: 14th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided that Article 40.3.3 (the right of life of the unborn) would not limit freedom to obtain or make available information relating to services lawfully available in another state.
• 23 Dec 1992: 13th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided that Article 40.3.3 (the right to life of the unborn) would not limit freedom to travel between Ireland and another state.
• 25 Nov 1992: Referendum on the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Act, (regarding the right to life of the unborn) failed; the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment succeed.
• 16 July 1992: 11th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to ratify the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) and to become a member of that union.
• 22 June 1987: 10th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to ratify the Single European Act.
• 1986: First divorce referendum failed.
• 2 Aug 1984: 9th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Extended the right to vote at Dáil elections to certain non-Irish nationals.
• 7 Oct 1983: 8th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Acknowledged the right to life of the unborn, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother.
• 3 Aug 1979: 7th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Provided for the election of members of Seanad Éireann by universities and other institutions of higher education.
• 3 Aug 1979: 6th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Ensured that adoption orders made by the Adoption Board could not be declared invalid because they were not made by a court.
• 5 Jan 1973: 5th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Removed from the Constitution the special position of the Catholic Church and the recognition of other named religious denominations.
• 5 Jan 1973: 4th Amendment of the Constitution Act: Reduced the minimum voting age at Dáil and Presidential elections and referendums from 21 years to 18 years.
• 8 June 1972: 3rd Amendment of the Constitution Act: Allowed the State to become a member of the European Communities.
• 30 May 1941: 2nd Amendment of the Constitution Act: An omnibus proposal, covering a range of disparate Articles, aimed at tidying up the Constitution in the light of experience since its enactment.
• 2 Sep 1939: 1st Amendment of the Constitution Act: Extended to conflicts in which the State is not a participant the provision for a state of emergency to secure the public safety and preservation of the State in time of war or armed rebellion.
• 1 July 1937: Constitution adopted.