The Constitution (Amendment No. 24) Act, 1936 ( Act no. 18 of 1936; previously

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

no. 20 of 1934) was an act of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

which abolished

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

, the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

of the Oireachtas, which thenceforth was

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

, with Dáil Éireann as the sole house. The bill was introduced in 1934 by the Fianna Fáil government of

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

, which was frustrated by the Seanad's repeated use of its power to delay (though not veto) legislation. In particular,

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

favoured eliminating symbols of monarchy from the Free State, which the Seanad, with more

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members, feared would antagonise the United Kingdom. The Seanad opposed the bill, declining in June 1934 to give it a

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. The Dáil resubmitted the bill in December 1935 and the Seanad passed a motion declining to pass it unless a replacement second chamber was created. In May 1936, the Dáil overrode the Seanad's refusal. The act deleted 16 articles of the 1922 Constitution and made consequential amendments to numerous others. It also increased the threshold for passing a

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

of impeachment (of

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or the

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) from a simple majority to a four-sevenths supermajority, since only one house, rather than two, would thenceforth be voting on such a resolution. When a new Seanad was created by the 1937 Constitution it was in a weakened form. Eleven senators of the sixty were to be nominated by the Taoiseach, assisting the likelihood of a government majority.

Expiry

The Amendment became obsolete on the repeal of the 1922 Constitution on the

adoption of the Constitution of Ireland The current Constitution of Ireland came into effect on 29 December 1937, repealing and replacing the Constitution of the Irish Free State, having been approved in a national plebiscite on 1 July 1937 with the support of 56.5% of voters in the ...

in 1937, and was repealed as

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by the

Statute Law Revision Act 2016 The Statute Law Revision Act 2016 is a Statute Law Revision Act enacted by the Oireachtas in Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Gre ...

References

Sources

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Citations

1936 in Irish law Acts of the Oireachtas of the 1930s Amendments to the Constitution of the Irish Free State Seanad Éireann Unicameral legislatures {{Ireland-stub