Second Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

The Second Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was an omnibus amendment to a variety of articles aimed at implementing a list of many different changes. It was effected by the Second Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1941 which was signed into law on 30 May 1941.

More important changes introduced by the amendment included restrictions on the right to habeas corpus, an extension of the right of the government to declare a state of emergency, changes to provisions dealing with the reference of bills to the Supreme Court by the president and various changes needed to bring the official Irish text of the constitution into line with the English text. One unusual aspect of the Second Amendment was that it introduced a change to Article 56 of the Transitory Provisions, even though that article was no longer a part of the official text of the constitution.

The Second Amendment was not submitted to a referendum. Under Article 51 of the Transitory Provisions the constitution could be amended during the initial period of 1938 to 1941 without the need for a popular vote. The Second Amendment could therefore be adopted in the same manner as any other law. The amendment was, in part, adopted as the last chance to implement a list of desired changes before the provisions of Article 51 lapsed. The amendment was enacted during the Fianna Fáil government of Éamon de Valera.

The Second Amendment introduced the following changes to the constitution

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