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Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2001 (Ireland)


The Twenty-fourth Amendment was a failed proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland to allow the state to ratify the Treaty of Nice of the European Union. The proposal was rejected in a referendum held in June 2001, sometimes referred to as the Nice I referendum. However the treaty was eventually approved by Irish voters when the Twenty-sixth Amendment was approved in the Nice II referendum, held in 2002.

The full title of the failed amendment was the Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2001. Following its rejection the number 24 was not used again—there has therefore officially been no successfully enacted "Twenty-fourth Amendment" of the Irish constitution.

The Twenty-fourth Amendment was the first attempt of the Government of Ireland to have the Treaty of Nice approved in a referendum. The purpose of the treaty was to amend the founding treaties of the European Union (EU). Ireland was the only country of the then 15 EU member states to put the question to the people in a referendum

The Twenty-fourth Amendment was introduced by the Fianna FáilProgressive Democrats coalition government of Bertie Ahern and was supported by Fine Gael and the Labour Party (the two major opposition parties). However it was opposed by the Green Party, Sinn Féin and Socialist Party.

The proposal was put to a referendum on 7 June 2001 but was rejected by 529,478 (53.9%) against to 453,461 (46.1%) in favour. On the same day two other amendment referendums passed: the Twenty-first Amendment, which introduced a constitutional prohibition on the death penalty, and the Twenty-third Amendment, which permitted the state to recognise the International Criminal Court.


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