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. |
