Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
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The Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution is an
amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. The ...
of the
Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditi ...
which permitted the state to be bound by the British–Irish Agreement (the bilateral portion of the
Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
) and enabled the establishment of shared political institutions between
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. It also provided a mechanism for a further amendment to the Constitution upon a declaration by the government on the implementation of the Agreement, most notably by changing Articles 2 and 3 from the previous claim over the whole island of Ireland to an aspiration towards creating a
united Ireland United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...
by peaceful means, "with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island". The amendment was effected by the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1998 (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. 24 of 1998) which 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 22 May 1998 and signed into law on 3 June of the same year. The referendum was held on the same day as a Northern Ireland referendum on the Good Friday Agreement and a second referendum in the Republic of Ireland to ratify of the
Amsterdam Treaty The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...
. The Government declaration envisaged by the Nineteenth Amendment was made on 2 December 1999, bringing the changes to Articles 2 and 3 and certain other parts of the constitution into effect.


Background

The
Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
in 1998 was a culmination of the
Northern Ireland peace process The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political developm ...
. The agreement acknowledged nationalism and unionism as "equally legitimate, political aspirations". It comprised two agreements: the Multi-Party Agreement, between the parties of Northern Ireland; and the British-Irish Agreement, between the
government of Ireland The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The gover ...
and the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Constitution needed to be amended to allow the Irish state to be bound by its provisions. The government of Ireland also agreed to amend Articles 2 and 3; however, these changes would only take effect if the government were satisfied that it could make a declaration that the Agreement had taken effect. These changes would remove the claim of the state to the whole island of Ireland, while also providing a mechanism for a poll on a
united Ireland United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...
. The government of the United Kingdom agreed changes to legislation, which were to be provided in the
Northern Ireland Act 1998 __NOTOC__ The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed Westminster to devolve power to Northern Ireland, after decades of direct rule. It renamed the New Northern Ireland Assembly, established b ...
, for a border poll on the status of Northern Ireland.


Changes to the text


Initial changes after referendum (1998)

The Nineteenth Amendment added the text below as Article 29.7 to the constitution. Subsection 3º provides the detail of the amendments to be made to the text and are detailed further below. The text of subsections 3º, 4º and 5º, shown here in italics, are omitted from the published text of the Constitution.


Subsequent changes effected upon Government declaration (1999)

Upon the declaration of the government on 2 December 1999, and under the terms of 29.7.3º, the following changes were made to the text: Deletion of the entirety of Articles 2 and 3: and substitution of the Articles with the following: Insertion of the following as Article 29.8 (see
extraterritorial jurisdiction in Irish law Republic of Ireland, The state of Ireland asserts universal jurisdiction and extraterritorial jurisdiction in various situations. Ireland has universal jurisdiction for murder and manslaughter committed by Irish nationality law, its citizens. Thi ...
):


Bill

A lay litigant named Denis Riordan launched a High Court challenge to the bill the week before the referendum. He claimed the bill was invalid because it purported to allow a mechanism to amend the Constitution by government declaration rather than by referendum. The court rejected the challenge on the grounds that the initial amendment would be by referendum and that by
separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
the courts could not interfere in the legislative process.


Referendum result


After the referendum

The referendum
returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
certified the result in the High Court, which notified the Oireachtas, and the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1998 was
signed into law A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature as well as, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an '' ...
by the President on 3 June 1998. This ''ipso facto'' effected the insertion of Article 28.7 of the Constitution and started the clock for the 12-month window (Article 28.7.5º) within which the British-Irish Agreement would be
ratified Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inten ...
. The British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 served in Irish law to ratify the treaty and establish the associated cross-border institutions. The act was signed into law on 22 March 1999 but would not be commenced by the
Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of 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 legislature) and the o ...
until the same date as the corresponding British law (the
Northern Ireland Act 1998 __NOTOC__ The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed Westminster to devolve power to Northern Ireland, after decades of direct rule. It renamed the New Northern Ireland Assembly, established b ...
). Both were dependent on participation of the parties in Northern Ireland. Political disagreements within Northern Ireland meant that establishment would not take place by the deadline of 2 June 1999, so the Oireachtas rushed through a 12-month extension ("such longer period as may be provided for by law" in Article 28.7.5º). A minor amendment to the British-Irish Agreement was signed on 18 June and the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 was accordingly amended on 25 June. The institutions were established on 2 December 1999, when the Irish government commenced the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 as amended, and the UK government simultaneously commenced the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Irish government accordingly made the declaration specified by Article 28.7.3º, triggering the replacement of Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, the insertion of Article 29.8, and the omission of the transitory subsections 3º–5º of Article 29.7.


Later developments

The provision in the amended Article 2 quoted above that "It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation" was affected by the
Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland The Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Act 2004 (previously bill no. 15 of 2004) amended the Constitution of Ireland to limit the constitutional right to Irish citizenship of individuals born on the island of Ireland to the ch ...
, passed in 2004. That amendment did not alter the text of Article 2 but instead inserted a new section in Article 9 which limited the constitutional right to citizenship by birth to individuals with at least one Irish-citizen parent.


See also

*
1998 Northern Ireland Belfast Agreement referendum The Good Friday Agreement referendum, 1998 was a referendum held in Northern Ireland over whether there was support for the Good Friday Agreement. The result was a majority (71.1%) in favour. A simultaneous referendum held in the Republic of ...
*
Politics of the Republic of Ireland Ireland is a parliamentary, representative democratic republic and a member state of the European Union. While the head of state is the popularly elected President of Ireland, it is a largely ceremonial position, with real political power bei ...
*
History of the Republic of Ireland The Irish state came into being in 1919 as the 32 county Irish Republic. In 1922, having seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, it became the Irish Free State. It comprised 32 counties until ...
*
History of Ireland The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quaterna ...
*
Partition of Ireland The partition of Ireland ( ga, críochdheighilt na hÉireann) was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. ...
* Constitutional amendment * 1998 Irish constitutional referendum


References


External links

*
Full text of the Constitution of Ireland
{{NIPP, state=collapsed 1998 in international relations 1998 in Irish law 1998 in Irish politics 1998 referendums 1999 in Irish law 1999 in Irish politics 19 History of Northern Ireland Irish nationality law Northern Ireland peace process Politics of Northern Ireland 19 May 1998 events in Europe Amendment, 19