“Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1998 (previously bill no. 24 of 1998) is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which permitted the state to be bound by the Good Friday Agreement and enabled the establishment of shared political institutions between Ireland and Northern Ireland. It also provided a mechanism for a further amendment to the Constitution upon a declaration by the government on the implementation of the Agreement, most notably by changing Articles 2 and 3 from an irredentist claim on the whole island of Ireland to an aspiration towards creating a united Ireland by peaceful means, "with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island".

It was approved by referendum on 22 May 1998 and signed into law on 3 June of the same year. The referendum was held on the same day as the referendum on the Eighteenth Amendment, which related to ratification of the Amsterdam Treaty. The Government declaration was made on 2 December 1999, bringing the changes to Articles 2 and 3 and certain other parts of the constitution into effect.^[1]

Background

The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was a culmination of the Northern Ireland peace process. The agreement acknowledged nationalism and unionism as "equally legitimate, political aspirations".^[2] It comprised two agreements: the Multi-Party Agreement, between the parties of Northern Ireland; and the British-Irish Agreement, between the government of Ireland and the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Constitution need to be amended to allow the Irish state to be bound by its provisions.

The government of Ireland also agreed to amend Articles 2 and 3; however, these changes would only take effect if the government were satisfied that it could make a declaration that the Agreement had taken effect. These changes would remove the claim of the state to the whole island of Ireland, while also providing a mechanism for a poll on a united Ireland. The government of the United Kingdom agreed changes to legislation, which were to be provided in the Northern Ireland Act 1998, for a border poll on the status of Northern Ireland.

Change to the text

The Nineteenth Amendment added the text below as Article 29.7 to the constitution. Subsection 3º provides the detail of the amendments to be made to the text and are detailed further below. The text of subsections 3º, 4º and 5º, shown here in italics, are omitted from the published text of the Constitution.

2º Any institution established by or under the Agreement may exercise the powers and functions thereby conferred on it in respect of all or any part of the island of Ireland notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution conferring a like power or function on any person or any organ of State appointed under or created or established by or under this Constitution. Any power or function conferred on such an institution in relation to the settlement or resolution of disputes or controversies may be in addition to or in substitution for any like power or function conferred by this Constitution on any such person or organ of State as aforesaid.

5º If such a declaration is not made within twelve months of this section being added to this Constitution or such longer period as may be provided for by law, this section shall cease to have effect and shall be omitted from every official text of this Constitution published thereafter.}}

Subsequent changes effected upon Government declaration (1999)

Upon the declaration of the government on 2 December 1999, and under the terms of 29.7.3º, the following changes were made to the text:

The national territory consists of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas.

Pending the re-integration of the national territory, and without prejudice to the right of the Parliament and Government established by this Constitution to exercise jurisdiction over the whole of that territory, the laws enacted by that Parliament shall have the like area and extent of application as the laws of Saorstát Éireann and the like extra-territorial effect.}}

It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Furthermore, the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage.

Insertion of the following as Article 29.8 (see extraterritorial jurisdiction in Irish law):

Result

Later developments

The provision in the amended Article 2 quoted above that "It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation" was affected by the Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, passed in 2004. That amendment did not alter the text of Article 2 but instead inserted a new section in Article 9 which limited the constitutional right to citizenship by birth to individuals with at least one Irish-citizen parent.^[4]

See also

References

1. ^{{cite web|url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1999120200003?opendocument|title=British-Irish Agreement: Announcement.|date=2 December 1999|work=Dáil Éireann debates|pages=Vol.512 No.2 p.3 cc.337–340|accessdate=22 August 2013}}
2. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/136652/agreement.pdf|title=Agreement reached in the multi-party negotiations|date=10 April 1998|publisher=Government of Ireland and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|accessdate=13 April 2017}}
3. ^¹{{cite web|url=http://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/migrated-files/en/Publications/LocalGovernment/Voting/referendum_results_1937-2015.pdf|work=Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government|title=Referendum Results 1937–2015|page=60|date=23 August 2016|accessdate=21 May 2018}}
4. ^{{cite irish legislation |year=2004 |type=cam |number=27 |name=Twenty-Seventh Amendment of the Constitution Act 2004}}

External links