The Irish referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was a vote that was planned but did not occur. The

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 ...

was expected to take place in 2005 or 2006 to decide whether Ireland should ratify the proposed

EU Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

. Following the rejection of the Constitution by voters in the French referendum of May 2005 and the Dutch referendum of June 2005, the planned Irish referendum was postponed indefinitely. The government of Ireland signed the "Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe" on 29 October 2004. However the ratification of major EU treaties, starting with the

Single European Act The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Act set the European Community an objective of establishing a single market by 31 December 1992, and a forerunner of the European Union's Common Forei ...

of 1986, requires the amendment of Article 29 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, which prescribes the extent to which Irish law can be superseded by other laws, including EU law.

Amendments of the Constitution of Ireland Amendments to the Constitution of Ireland are only possible by way of referendum. A proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland must first be approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), then submitted to a referendum, and finally ...

can only be approved by referendum. A TNS/MRBI ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' opinion poll on 14 June 2005 showed that while 45% of voters wished to see a referendum, only 30% would vote ''yes'' in the constitutional referendum, with 35% voting ''no'' and 35% unsure. The then government parties of

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 ...

and the

Progressive Democrats The Progressive Democrats ( ga, An Páirtí Daonlathach, literally "The Democratic Party" ), commonly referred to as the PDs, was a conservative-liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Ma ...

were in favour of a yes vote.

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 � ...

, the main opposition party was also in favour of a yes vote. The Labour Party, like the French Socialist Party, was divided, with its parliamentary leadership supporting ratification but its youth wing calling for a rejection. The other left-wing parties were calling for a no vote, including

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

, the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

and the Socialist Workers Party. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

was split on the text and a special convention to determine its position was called off after the Dutch and French 'no' votes.

Lisbon Treaty

The rejection of the Constitution by French and Dutch voters halted the ratification process. As support by all members was required the Constitution was dropped and in July 2007 the European Council agreed upon the foundation of a new treaty to replace the rejected Constitution. The text agreed upon at the European Council meeting on 18 and 19 October 2007 contained many of the planned changes of the Constitution but would not replace the existing treaties, as the Constitution would have done, but amended them. Before this ''Reform

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member s ...

'' was signed on 13 December 2007

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

explained this in an article ''"La boîte à outils du traité de Lisbonne"'' in

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

of 26 October 2007. An English version ''"The EU Treaty is the same as the Constitution"'' appeared in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

of 30 October 2007. The articles contained the following: : "le traité de Lisbonne se situe exactement dans la ligne des traités d'Amsterdam et de Nice, ignorés du grand public. ..Il est illisible pour les citoyens ..les propositions institutionnelles du traité constitutionnel ..se retrouvent intégralement dans le traité de Lisbonne, mais dans un ordre différent, et insérés dans les traités antérieurs" : "The Treaty of Lisbon is thus a catalogue of amendments. It is unpenetrable for the public. In terms of content, the proposed institutional reforms are all to be found in the Treaty of Lisbon. They have merely been ordered differently and split up between previous treaties." Anti-Lisbon Treaty campaigners like

Declan Ganley Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the Libertas Party. Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur, Ganley has ...

and Patricia McKenna quoted Giscard differently: "Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly" ... "All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way." To the Irish Times Giscard complained the full quote should have read: "The latest brainwave is to preserve part of the innovations of the constitutional treaty, but hide them by breaking them up into several texts. The most innovative provisions would become simple amendments to the treaties of Maastricht and Nice. The technical improvements would be regrouped in a colourless, harmless treaty. The texts would be sent to national parliaments, which would vote separately. Thus public opinion would be led to adopt, without knowing it, the provisions that we dare not present directly. This process of 'dividing to ratify' is obviously unworthy of the challenge at stake. It may be a good magician's act. But it will confirm European citizens in the idea that the construction of Europe is organised behind their backs by lawyers and diplomats". The first referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon held on 12 June 2008 was rejected by the Irish electorate, by a margin of 53.4% to 46.6%, with a turnout of 53%. The second referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon held on 2 October 2009 and the proposal was approved by 67.1% to 32.9%, with a turnout of 59%.

References

{{Amendments of the Constitution of Ireland 2004 in Irish politics 2004 in the European Union 2005 in Irish politics 2005 in the European Union 2006 in Irish politics 2006 in the European Union Referendum on the European Constitution, Irish Cancelled events in Ireland Failed amendments of the Constitution of Ireland fr:Référendum irlandais sur la constitution européenne