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Home > The Amsterdam Treaty > Ratification Stage > Ireland
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REFERENDUMS HELD ON EUROPEAN MATTERS: 6

1972: EU - Accession (Yes 83 % - No 17 % - Turnout 71 %)
1987: Single European Act (Yes 70 % - No 30 % - Turnout 44 %)
1992: Treaty of Maastricht (Yes 69 % - No 31 % - Turnout 57 %)

 

CONSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS - Constitution of Ireland

Binding referendum provided for any transfer of power because that requires a constitutional amendment which makes a referendum mandatory.

 

PROCEDURE

In accordance with Art. 29 (5) of the constitution, international agreements must be accepted by the Irish parliament with simple majority in both houses. Following the decision of the Supreme Court on the occasion of the Single European Act, every extension of European jurisdiction additionally requires the constitution to be amended. This provided, the ratification process is completely predetermined by the constitution.
As stipulated by Art. 46, an amendment of the constitution must be passed with simple majority in both houses of parliament and then requires the approval of the electorate in a referendum. The government introduced a resolution to amend Art. 29 (4) by referendum. On 26 March, the resolution was approved by the Dail (lower house), on 1 April the Senate (upper house) gave its assent. On 22 May, the 18th amendment of the constitution, adding subsections 5 and 6 to paragraph 4 of Article 29, was approved by referendum with 61.27% of valid votes. The government initiated the regular parliamentary ratification on the basis of Art. 29 (5) by introducing a ratification bill. On 17 June the ratification law was passed by the Senate and on 25 June by the Dail.

 

RELEVANT DOCUMENTS AND MATERIAL

Thurner, P.; Stoiber, M. (2001), Comparing Ratification Processes within EU Member States: The Identification of Real Veto Players, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research.

 

© Carlos Closa 2003 - Design by Eduardo Jáuregui. Edited by Mario Kölling
Doctorado en Unión Europea