Irish constitutional referendum, 1937
| Plebiscite on the Constitution of Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Do you approve of the Draft Constitution which is the subject of this plebiscite? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Constituency results from the referendum | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Yes
No
The Constitution of Ireland plebiscite, also known as the Plebiscite on the Draft Constitution, was a plebiscite held in the Irish Free State to approve the adoption of a new constitution for the country. The vote was held on 1 July 1937, the same day as the 1937 general election. It was passed by a plurality, with 56% of voters in favour, comprising 38.6% of the whole electorate. As a result, the current Constitution of Ireland came into effect on 29 December 1937, ending the Irish Free State. It was the only plebiscite to take place in the Irish Free State. Moreover, it was the only plebiscite that has ever been held in the country although there have been many referendums since then.
The desire to replace the Constitution of the Irish Free State was motivated largely by the association of the existing constitution with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and a belief that it had been imposed upon Ireland by the government of the United Kingdom. The main opponents of the Treaty had been elected to power as Fianna Fáil under Éamon de Valera in 1932, and a commitment was made to replace the constitution of the Free State. So closely tied to the policies of Fianna Fáil was the proposed new constitution that the 1937 referendum has been described as a vote of confidence in the republican government. After a new constitution was drafted by John Hearne, supervised by de Valera, the draft was accepted by the Oireachtas. The Oireachtas passed the Plebiscite (Draft Constitution) Act 1937, which allowed for a plebiscite to be held so that the people of Ireland could either accept or reject the new constitution.
Supporters of replacing the Irish Free State Constitution were largely sympathetic to the Fianna Fáil party, or republicans who believed in removing the remaining constitutional and legal links to the British state. Opponents of the new constitution included a coalition of supporters of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, and unionists who were concerned about permanently losing the last vestiges of Britain's influence on the institutions of Irish government. The National University Women Graduates' Association opposed the new constitution on the basis that it could undermine women's rights and privacy in the home.
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