Nineteenth Amendment Of The Constitution Of Ireland
The Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland introduced changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the constitution required by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Prior to 1999, Articles 2 and 3 made the controversial claim that the whole island of Ireland formed one single "national territory". By means of the Nineteenth Amendment, Articles 2 and 3 were changed to an aspiration towards creating a united Ireland by peaceful means.
The Nineteenth Amendment was approved by referendum in 1998, at the same time as the Eighteenth Amendment. However the Government of Ireland did not want the changes to Articles 2 and 3 to be made until it could confirm that other aspects of the Belfast Agreement had been complied with. For this reason the Nineteenth Amendment did not itself alter Articles 2 and 3. Rather it introduced a special mechanism whereby changes to Articles 2 and 3 could be brought about at a future date by a formal declaration made by the Government. That declaration was made in December 1999, whereupon the change in articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution took effect.
The Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1998 was approved by referendum on 22 May 1998 and signed into law on 3 June of the same year. 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.
Read more about Nineteenth Amendment Of The Constitution Of Ireland: Initial Changes To The Text Made By The Nineteenth Amendment (1998), Overview, Result
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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“The Constitution of the United States is not a mere lawyers’ document. It is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of the age. Its prescriptions are clear and we know what they are ... but life is always your last and most authoritative critic.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations.... They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools, they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
—Patrick Henry Pearse (1879–1916)