The Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1984 (previously

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no. 11 of 1984) is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland that allowed for the extension of the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

in elections to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

(the house of representatives of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

) to non-Irish citizens. It was approved by

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on 14 June 1984, the same day as the European Parliament election, and signed into law on 2 August of the same year.

Background

Article 16 of the Constitution of Ireland as approved in 1937, and amended in 1972 to lower the voting age, provided that the franchise for elections to Dáil Éireann would be citizens who have reached the age of 18. The Electoral Amendment Bill 1983, proposed by the

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

– Labour Party

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led by

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Garret FitzGerald Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987, and ...

, would have amended the Electoral Act 1963 to allow British citizens as defined by the British Nationality Act 1981 to vote in elections to Dáil Éireann. This was to reciprocate the Ireland Act 1949, a British statute, which among other provisions had granted Irish citizens resident in the United Kingdom the right to vote in elections to the British parliament. The Bill was referred by

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Patrick Hillery to the

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under Article 26 of the Constitution. In a judgment delivered on 8 February 1984, they found the bill to be unconstitutional. In response, the government then proposed a constitutional amendment which would specifically allow the franchise in elections to Dáil Éireann to be extended to non-Irish citizens. This did not affect

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or referendums, where the text of the Constitution continued to specify citizens only.

Changes to the text

Deletion of the entirety of Article 16.1.2º: Substitution of new Article 16.1.2º: Amendment to Article 16.1.3º by the addition of the text in bold:

Oireachtas debates

The Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1984 was proposed by Minister for the Environment

Liam Kavanagh Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these elem ...

on 11 April 1984. It had the support of opposition party

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 Christian- ...

and passed all stages of the Dáil without amendment on that day. It passed all stages of the Seanad on the same day.

Information to voters

Under the provisions of the Referendum Act 1984, the changes was described on the polling card sent to voters as:

Result

Note: For this referendum, the constituencies used were each county and

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

(city), which were deemed under section 2 of the Referendum (Amendment) Act 1984 to be constituencies for the purpose of the poll. Usually in Irish referendums the

general election constituencies are used.

Aftermath

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1985 was passed the following year. This amended the Electoral Act 1963 to grant the vote to British citizens. It also allowed the Minister for the Environment to extend the franchise to citizens of a member of the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

on a reciprocal basis. To date, no such order has been made for any other country.

References

External links

Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1984Electoral (Amendment) Act 1985Oireachtas Debates on the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1984
{{Amendments of the Constitution of Ireland 1984 in Irish law 1984 in Irish politics 1984 referendums 09 09 Suffrage referendums June 1984 events in Europe Amendment, 09 Amendment, 09 Electoral reform referendums