# Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

The Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution Act 1992 (previously bill no. 12 of 1992) is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which permitted the state to ratify the Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty. It was approved by referendum on 18 June 1992 and signed into law on 16 July of the same year.

## Overview

The Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution was one of a number of amendments that have been made to expressly permit the state to ratify changes to the founding treaties of the European Union (then known as the European Community) (others have been the Tenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-sixth and the Twenty-eighth Amendments). These amendments were all adopted because of the finding of the Supreme Court in Crotty v. An Taoiseach (1987) that major changes to the treaties are unconstitutional unless accompanied by an amendment.
The Eleventh Amendment was introduced by a Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats coalition government and was also supported by opposition parties Fine Gael and the Labour Party. Democratic Left and the Green Party were opposed to it. Some anti-abortion groups also opposed the treaty, arguing that it might lead to legalised abortion in Ireland.

## Changes to the text

The Eleventh Amendment amended Article 29.4 by the deletion of the highlighted sentence from subsection 3°:
and by the addition of the following subsections:
   5° No provision of this Constitution invalidates laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the State which are necessitated by the obligations of membership of the European Union or of the Communities, or prevents laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the European Union or by the Communities or by institutions thereof, or by bodies competent under the Treaties establishing the Communities, from having the force of law in the State.

## Result

Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland referendum :
| Choice | Votes | % |
| Yes | 1,001,076 | 69.05 |
| No | 448,655 | 30.95 |
| Valid votes | 1,449,731 | 99.49 |
| Invalid or blank votes | 7,488 | 0.51 |
| Total votes | 1,457,219 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,542,840 | 57.31 |
Results by constituency :
| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Votes | Votes | Proportion of votes | Proportion of votes |
| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Carlow–Kilkenny | 81,192 | 59.2% | 34,180 | 13,633 | 71.5% | 28.5% |
| Cavan–Monaghan | 79,004 | 52.7% | 28,916 | 12,382 | 70.1% | 29.9% |
| Clare | 67,558 | 53.9% | 26,984 | 9,264 | 74.5% | 25.5% |
| Cork East | 58,159 | 61.5% | 24,738 | 10,863 | 69.5% | 30.5% |
| Cork North-Central | 64,497 | 57.7% | 24,285 | 12,800 | 65.5% | 34.5% |
| Cork North-West | 42,058 | 62.9% | 18,481 | 7,773 | 70.4% | 29.6% |
| Cork South-Central | 82,853 | 62.9% | 36,653 | 15,218 | 70.7% | 29.3% |
| Cork South-West | 43,753 | 61.0% | 18,689 | 7,846 | 70.5% | 29.5% |
| Donegal North-East | 46,934 | 50.9% | 14,063 | 9,737 | 59.1% | 40.9% |
| Donegal South-West | 48,494 | 48.8% | 13,724 | 9,837 | 58.3% | 41.7% |
| Dublin Central | 63,411 | 56.6% | 21,216 | 14,488 | 59.5% | 40.5% |
| Dublin North | 56,412 | 59.2% | 24,488 | 8,789 | 73.6% | 26.4% |
| Dublin North-Central | 55,376 | 65.3% | 23,526 | 12,524 | 65.3% | 34.7% |
| Dublin North-East | 55,024 | 61.5% | 21,469 | 12,238 | 63.7% | 36.3% |
| Dublin North-West | 47,937 | 57.8% | 15,642 | 11,874 | 56.9% | 43.1% |
| Dublin South | 87,322 | 63.0% | 40,569 | 14,267 | 74.0% | 26.0% |
| Dublin South-Central | 71,052 | 57.8% | 25,718 | 15,140 | 63.0% | 37.0% |
| Dublin South-East | 60,630 | 54.2% | 21,603 | 11,061 | 66.2% | 33.8% |
| Dublin South-West | 69,654 | 54.9% | 24,847 | 13,250 | 65.3% | 34.7% |
| Dublin West | 82,641 | 55.9% | 30,236 | 15,861 | 65.6% | 34.4% |
| Dún Laoghaire | 83,369 | 62.3% | 38,396 | 13,362 | 74.2% | 25.8% |
| Galway East | 43,219 | 53.9% | 17,306 | 5,780 | 75.0% | 25.0% |
| Galway West | 81,292 | 50.7% | 27,669 | 13,340 | 67.5% | 32.5% |
| Kerry North | 48,606 | 52.5% | 16,313 | 9,006 | 64.5% | 35.5% |
| Kerry South | 44,034 | 52.9% | 15,495 | 7,633 | 67.0% | 33.0% |
| Kildare | 85,073 | 55.0% | 34,314 | 12,275 | 73.7% | 26.3% |
| Laois–Offaly | 77,226 | 58.5% | 30,409 | 14,470 | 67.8% | 32.2% |
| Limerick East | 69,025 | 58.5% | 29,059 | 11,134 | 72.3% | 27.7% |
| Limerick West | 44,768 | 57.2% | 18,241 | 7,152 | 71.9% | 28.1% |
| Longford–Westmeath | 64,098 | 56.3% | 26,486 | 9,364 | 73.9% | 26.1% |
| Louth | 65,666 | 58.9% | 26,925 | 11,446 | 70.2% | 29.8% |
| Mayo East | 40,336 | 52.4% | 15,603 | 5,434 | 74.2% | 25.8% |
| Mayo West | 40,654 | 53.0% | 16,076 | 5,424 | 74.8% | 25.2% |
| Meath | 82,133 | 56.1% | 32,608 | 13,204 | 71.2% | 28.8% |
| Roscommon | 40,690 | 59.4% | 17,242 | 6,755 | 71.9% | 28.1% |
| Sligo–Leitrim | 60,675 | 55.3% | 23,826 | 9,461 | 71.6% | 28.4% |
| Tipperary North | 42,633 | 60.0% | 17,052 | 8,343 | 67.2% | 32.8% |
| Tipperary South | 56,705 | 60.2% | 22,810 | 11,148 | 67.2% | 32.8% |
| Waterford | 63,692 | 58.0% | 26,923 | 9,850 | 73.3% | 26.7% |
| Wexford | 75,553 | 57.0% | 30,347 | 12,491 | 70.9% | 29.1% |
| Wicklow | 69,432 | 58.9% | 27,949 | 12,738 | 68.7% | 31.3% |
| Total | 2,542,840 | 57.3% | 1,001,076 | 448,655 | 69.1% | 30.9% |