# List of failed amendments to the Constitution of Ireland

The Constitution of Ireland has been amended 32 times since its adoption in 1937. Numerous other amendment bills have been introduced in Dáil Éireann but were not enacted. These include government bills passed by the Dáil and Seanad but rejected at referendum; bills which the government introduced but later decided not to proceed with; and the rest were private member's bills (PMBs), usually introduced by opposition TDs. No amendment PMBs passed second stage until 2015.

## List of amendments

| Title | Year | Type | Proposer | Stage reached | Subject, notes |
| Third | 1941 | PMB | Fine Gael | Second stage (defeated) | Judges: process for impeachment; make more rigorous by requiring two-thirds majority resolution of each House; extend protection from Supreme Court and High Court to lower-court judges |
| Third | 1958 | Government | Fianna Fáil | Referendum (defeated on 17 June 1959) | Elections to the Dáil: Replace single transferable vote (STV) system with single-member plurality voting (first past the post, FPTP). Also proposed an independent boundary commission for constituencies. The main proposal similar to the 1968 fourth-amendment bill. |
| Third | 1968 | Government | Fianna Fáil | Referendum (defeated on 16 October 1968) | Elections to the Dáil: Specified a degree of malapportionment in favour of rural constituencies over urban constituencies. |
| Fourth | 1968 | Government | Fianna Fáil | Referendum (defeated on 16 October 1968) | Elections to the Dáil: Replace STV with FPTP for Dáil elections. Similar to main proposal of the 1958 bill. |
| Fourth | 1972 | PMB | Labour | First stage (defeated) | Elections: Lower voting age from 21 to 18. Accomplished by the government-sponsored Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1972. |
| Sixth | 1978 | PMB | Labour | Second stage (defeated) | Rights of children: To facilitate adoptions whose legality had been questioned, and to abolish illegitimacy. The government-sponsored Sixth Amendment passed in 1979 addressed the adoption issue; the Status of Children Act 1987 addressed illegitimacy; the Thirty-first Amendment provided rights for children. |
| Eighth | 1980 | PMB | Socialist Labour Party | First stage (defeated) | Divorce: Permit by deleting Article 41.3.2° and 41.3.3°. Divorce was eventually permitted by the 15th amendment in 1996. |
| Eighth (Divorce) | 1982 | PMB | Workers' Party | First stage (lapsed) | Divorce: Relax ban. This was eventually lifted by the 15th amendment in 1996. |
| Eighth (Divorce) | 1983 | PMB | Workers' Party | First stage (defeated) | Divorce: Relax ban. This was eventually lifted by the 15th amendment in 1996. |
| Tenth (Divorce) | 1984 | PMB | Workers' Party | First stage (defeated) | Divorce: Relax ban. This was eventually lifted by the 15th amendment in 1996. |
| Tenth | 1985 | PMB | Fine Gael (Michael O'Leary) | First stage (defeated) | Divorce: Relax ban. O'Leary was a government backbencher. His move prompted the government to introduce its own bill. |
| Tenth (No. 2) | 1985 | PMB | Labour | Second stage (defeated) | Divorce: Relax ban. Labour's coalition partner Fine Gael opposed the bill; a government-sponsored divorce amendment was rejected at referendum later in 1986. |
| Tenth | 1986 | Government | Fine Gael–Labour | Referendum (defeated on 26 June 1986) | Divorce: Relax ban. This was eventually lifted by the 15th amendment in 1996. |
| Eleventh | 1990 | PMB | Workers' Party | Second stage (defeated) | Amend Articles 2 and 3 to weaken the irredentist claim to Northern Ireland. The Nineteenth Amendment in 1999 amended the articles in a similar manner as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. |
| Eleventh | 1991 | PMB | Fine Gael | Second stage (lapsed) | Elections: enable Irish emigrants to elect three members of the Seanad. |
| Eleventh (No. 2) | 1991 | PMB | Workers' Party | Second stage (lapsed) | Allow abolition of ground rents |
| Eleventh (No. 3) | 1991 | PMB | Fine Gael | Second stage (defeated) | Rights of women: affirmatively recognise rights of women in section on equality. |
| Eleventh (No. 4) | 1991 | PMB | Fine Gael | Second stage (lapsed) | Bail laws |
| Eleventh | 1992 | PMB | Workers' Party | Second stage (lapsed) | Abortion: removal of provision inserted by Eighth Amendment |
| Eleventh | 1992 | PMB | Labour | Second stage (defeated) | Abortion: allow freedom to information and travel |
| Twelfth | 1992 | Government | Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats | Referendum (defeated on 25 November 1992) | Abortion: Partially reverse the X Case decision by removing risk of suicide as grounds for an abortion. |
| Fifteenth | 1995 | PMB | Fianna Fáil | Second stage (defeated) | Restrict right to bail. Accomplished by the government-sponsored Sixteenth Amendment in 1996. |
| Seventeenth | 1997 | PMB | Progressive Democrats | Second stage (lapsed) | Election of President: Allow nominating petitions |
| Eighteenth | 1997 | PMB | Fine Gael | Second stage (lapsed) | Election of President: Allow nominating petitions by 20,000 voters |
| Twentieth | 1999 | PMB | Democratic Left | Second stage (lapsed) | Lower the age of eligibility for TDs from 21 to 18. |
| Twenty-first | 1999 | PMB | Greens | Second stage (lapsed) | Neutrality: Require a referendum before the state could join to join a military alliance |
| Twenty-first (No. 2) | 1999 | PMB | Greens | Second stage (lapsed) | Allowing constitutional amendments by initiative |
| Twenty-first (No. 3) | 1999 | PMB | Labour | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee economic, social and cultural rights |
| Twenty-first (No. 4) | 1999 | PMB | Labour | Second stage (lapsed) | Rights: Prohibits "unfair discrimination" and permits positive discrimination. |
| Twenty-first (No. 5) | 1999 | PMB | Labour | Second stage (lapsed) | Rights of children, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child |
| Twenty-second | 2001 | Government | Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats | Committee stage (lapsed) | Judges: process for impeachment |
| Twenty-fourth | 2001 | Government | Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats | Referendum (defeated on 7 June 2001) | European Union: Ratify the Treaty of Nice. The Twenty-sixth Amendment in 2002 passed referendum and accomplished this. |
| Twenty-fourth | 2002 | PMB | Labour | First stage (withdrawn) | Neutrality: amend Article 29 to allow the state to participate in UN operations but not to join any military alliance. Withdrawn when the Twenty-sixth Amendment included an opt-out from the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy. |
| Twenty-fifth | 2001 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (lapsed) | Neutrality: forbid the state from joining any military alliance |
| Twenty-fifth (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) | 2001 | Government | Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats | Referendum (defeated on 6 March 2002) | Abortion: Partially reverse the X Case decision by removing risk of suicide as grounds for an abortion, and specify the legal grounds for abortion. |
| Twenty-seventh | 2003 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Neutrality: affirms neutrality, forbids the state from joining any military alliance; war may only be declared by the Dáil. |
| Twenty-seventh (No. 2) | 2003 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee the right to housing |
| Twenty-eighth | 2005 | Government | Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats | First stage (lapsed) | European Union: Ratify the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The government did not proceed with the amendment when the Treaty was abandoned after it was rejected by France and the Netherlands at referendums. |
| Twenty-eighth | 2006 | PMB | Labour | Second stage (lapsed) | Preserve cultural heritage and commit to sustainable development |
| Twenty-eighth (No. 2) | 2006 | PMB | Greens | Second stage (lapsed) | Elections: Lower age of candidacy for Dáil and presidential elections |
| Twenty eighth (No. 3) | 2006 | PMB | Greens | Second stage (lapsed) | Presidency: ease ballot access by reducing the qualifying number of Oireachtas members and allowing nominating petitions; reduce the term from seven to five years; mandate annual address to the Oireachtas; mandate meetings of the Council of State |
| Twenty-eighth | 2007 | Government | Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats | Second stage (lapsed) | Rights of children, insertion of a new article. The 2012 31st amendment covers similar ground. |
| Twenty-eighth | 2008 | Government | Fianna Fáil–Greens–Progressive Democrats | Referendum (defeated on 12 June 2008) | European Union: Ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. This was achieved with the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which passed in a referendum the following year. |
| Twenty-ninth | 2008 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (lapsed) | Rights relating to trade unions |
| Twenty-ninth | 2009 | PMB | Fine Gael | Second stage (lapsed) | Judges: Ease the restriction on reducing judges' pay. This was achieved by the Twenty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which was passed in a referendum in 2011. |
| Twenty-ninth | 2011 | PMB | Greens | Second stage (lapsed) | Defines "economic treason". |
| Twenty-ninth (No.2) | 2011 | PMB | Fianna Fáil | Second stage (defeated) | Allow only individual voters to make political donations. |
| Twenty-ninth (No.3) | 2011 | PMB | Fianna Fáil | Second stage (defeated) | Allow for the adoption of any child. Achieved by the Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland passed by referendum in 2012 |
| Thirtieth (Houses of the Oireachtas Inquiries) | 2011 | Government | Fine Gael–Labour | Referendum (defeated on 27 October 2011) | Oireachtas: overturn the 2002 John Carthy verdict limiting the power of Oireachtas inquiries. |
| Thirty-first (The President) | 2011 | PMB | Technical group (Catherine Murphy) | Second stage (defeated) | Presidency: ease ballot access by reducing the qualifying number of Oireachtas members and allowing nominating petitions; remove reference to "proportional representation"; reduce the term from seven to five years |
| Thirty-first (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) | 2012 | PMB | Labour (Kevin Humphreys) | Second stage (lapsed) | Rights: Guarantee economic, social and cultural rights |
| Thirty-second (Dáil Éireann) | 2012 | PMB | Fine Gael (Brendan Griffin) | Second stage (lapsed) | Dáil Éireann: to comprise 100 single-member constituencies by instant-runoff voting (plus the Ceann Comhairle) |
| Thirty-second (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) | 2013 | Government | Fine Gael–Labour | Referendum (defeated on 4 October 2013) | Oireachtas: Abolish Seanad Éireann. |
| Thirty-fourth (Judicial Appointments) | 2013 | PMB | Technical group (Shane Ross) | Second stage (defeated) | Judges: establish a non-political body to nominate judges, subject to Oireachtas ratification |
| Thirty-fourth (Neutrality) | 2013 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Neutrality: declaration of neutrality and forbidding the state from joining any military alliance |
| Thirty-fourth (No. 3) | 2014 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee right to water; and Public ownership mandated for the Irish water supply |
| Thirty-fourth (Right to Personal Autonomy and Bodily Integrity) | 2014 | PMB | Technical group (Clare Daly) | Second stage (defeated) | Abortion: repeal the Eighth Amendment, and guarantee rights to personal autonomy and bodily integrity |
| Thirty-fourth (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) | 2014 | PMB | Technical group (Peter Mathews) | Second stage (defeated) | Oireachtas: loosen the party whip system |
| Thirty-fourth (Peace and Neutrality) | 2014 | PMB | Technical group (Mick Wallace) | Second stage (defeated) | Neutrality: Adhere to Section V of the Hague Convention of 1907 |
| Thirty-fourth | 2014 | PMB | Technical group (Socialist Party) | Second stage (defeated) | Abortion: repeal the Eighth Amendment |
| Thirty-fourth (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) | 2014 | PMB | Technical Group (Thomas Pringle) | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee economic, social and cultural rights |
| Thirty-fifth (Age of Eligibility for Election to the Office of President) | 2015 | Government | Fine Gael–Labour | Referendum (defeated on 22 May 2015) | Presidency: reduce age of candidacy from 35 to 21 |
| Thirty-fourth (Voting Rights in Referenda) | 2014 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (lapsed) | Election of President: allow emigrants to vote |
| Thirty-fourth (No. 2) | 2014 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Committee stage (lapsed) | Elections: Lower voting age from 18 to 16. |
| Thirty-fourth (Dáil Éireann) | 2015 | PMB | Fine Gael (Brendan Griffin) | Second stage (lapsed) | Dáil Éireann: to comprise 158 single-member constituencies; eliminate single transferable vote requirement |
| Thirty-fifth (Fixed Period for the Duration of Dáil Éireann) | 2015 | PMB | Technical group (Shane Ross) | Second stage (lapsed) | Dáil Éireann: fixed term of five years |
| Thirty-fifth (Repeal of the Eighth Amendment) | 2016 | PMB | AAA–PBP | Second stage (defeated) | Abortion: repeal the Eighth Amendment, which guarantees the "right to life of the unborn". A motion was passed rejecting the bill, to allow the Citizens' Assembly to consider the issue. |
| Thirty-fifth (Neutrality) | 2016 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Neutrality: prohibit assisting foreign preparations for war without the consent of the Dáil, and prohibit joining any military alliance. A motion was passed rejecting the bill "to protect the authority of the Executive to conduct external relations" and affirming existing neutrality provisions and policies. |
| Thirty-fifth (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) | 2016 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee economic, social and cultural rights |
| Thirty-fifth (Right to Housing) | 2017 | PMB | Solidarity–PBP | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee the right to housing |
| Thirty-eighth (Neutrality) | 2018 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Neutrality: prohibit involvement in any war unless "immediately necessary in defence of the State". |
| Thirty-fifth (Right to a Home) | 2016 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee the right to housing |
| Thirty-fifth (Common Ownership of Water Resources) | 2016 | PMB | Greens | Second stage (lapsed) | Public ownership mandated for the Irish water supply |
| Thirty-fifth (Public Ownership of Certain Assets) | 2016 | PMB | Labour (Willie Penrose) | Second stage (lapsed) | Public ownership mandated for the Irish water supply, gas network, and electricity grid |
| Thirty-fifth (Protection of Pension Property Rights) | 2017 | PMB | Fianna Fáil (Willie O'Dea) | Second stage (lapsed) | Prohibit taxing of private pension savings (such as had been done from 2011 to 2016 during the post-2008 austerity). |
| Thirty-fifth (Blasphemy) | 2017 | PMB | Social Democrats | Second stage (lapsed) | Religion: remove the constitution's requirement to criminalise blasphemy. Effected by the 37th amendment in 2018 |
| Thirty-fifth (Separation of Church and State) | 2017 | PMB | Solidarity–PBP | Second stage (lapsed) | Religion: mandate separation of church and state |
| Thirty-ninth (Right to Housing) | 2019 | PMB | Independent (Tommy Broughan) | Second stage (lapsed) | Rights: Guarantee the right to housing |
| Thirty-Ninth (Right to Health) | 2019 | PMB | Rural Independents (Michael Harty) | Second stage (defeated) | Rights: Guarantee the right to health |
| Thirty-fourth (Inclusive Budget Reform) | 2014 | PMB | Sinn Féin | Second stage (defeated) | Repeal the requirement that measures incurring public spending can only be proposed by the government |
| Thirty-Ninth (Neutrality) | 2022 | PMB | Solidarity–PBP | Second stage (defeated) | Neutrality: "non-membership of military alliances" and no transit to warzones of foreign "material or personnel" |
| Thirty-ninth (The Family) | 2023 | Government | Fine Gael–Fianna Fáil–Green | Referendum (defeated on 8 March 2024) | Family: extend protection to non-marital families |
| Fortieth (Care) | 2023 | Government | Fine Gael–Fianna Fáil–Green | Referendum (defeated on 8 March 2024) | Family: replace reference to "woman['s] ... duties in the home" with reference to "the provision of care, by members of a family to one another" |

### Notes

* ↑ Where "Nth" is listed, the title of the bill was "Nth Amendment of the Constitution Bill Year"; Where "Nth (Qualifier)" is listed, the title of the bill was "Nth Amendment of the Constitution (Qualifier) Bill Year".
* ↑ PMBs were proposed by opposition TDs unless otherwise noted.
* ↑ Introduced as the Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968, the government renumbered it the Fourth Amendment when introducing its own Third Amendment bill
* 1 2 3 4 PMB by government backbencher
* ↑ PMB by a member of the smaller party in the Fine Gael-Labour coalition.
* ↑ This bill was titled Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution 1991 but appears in the Dáil Debates as Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution (No. 2) Bill 1991.
* 1 2 There were three bills named Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1992: No. 2 of 1992 was a WP PMB, No. 11 of 1992 was a Labour PMB, and No. 12 of 1992 was a government bill which was enacted.
* ↑ On 26 February 1992 the bill was introduced (first stage) by Proinsias De Rossa. De Rossa lost speaking time when he and five other Workers' Party TDs left to form Democratic Left.
* ↑ The Greens were the smaller party in a Fianna Fáil-led government when they introduced the bill in December 2010; they left government in January 2011.
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bills lapsed when 31st Dáil dissolved and not revived in 32nd Dáil.

## Missing numbers

A new bill to amend the constitution is usually named with the ordinal number next after that of the last amendment passed. Multiple pending bills will often use the same number, and be distinguished by year of introduction and/or a parenthetical number or description. However, if the government introduces multiple bills, these are numbered consecutively. There are several gaps in the numbering of passed amendments, corresponding to government bills which did not pass:

### Twelfth

    Amendments 12, 13, and 14, all relating to abortion, were put to referendums on the same day. The 12th was rejected while the 13th and 14th passed.

### Twenty-second

    Amendments 21, 22, 23, and 24 were introduced in the Dáil on the same day, with a view to being passed quickly through the Oireachtas. Three proved uncontroversial, but the 22nd was delayed after complaints from opposition parties. By the time the government decided not to proceed with the 22nd bill, the 23rd had passed at referendum.

### Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth

    After the 24th bill was rejected at referendum in 2001, the government decided not to re-use the number when introducing the 25th bill later that year. Similarly, after the 25th was rejected in 2002, the government's next amendment bill was numbered 26 rather than 25 or 24. By contrast, when the 28th amendment bill of 2008 was rejected at referendum, the government chose to re-use the number 28 for the amendment bill passed the following year.

### Thirty-second

    The 32nd and 33rd bills were put to referendum on 4 October 2013; the 32nd was rejected while the 33rd was approved.

### Thirty-fifth

    The government's 35th bill was rejected at a referendum on 22 May 2015. Government amendments 36 and 37 were passed in 2018. The 38th Amendment was a private member's bill introduced in 2016 with number 35, which had its number changed to 38 in 2019 after being accepted by the government, which was passed in May 2019.