Overview
In 1977 it came to light that for technical reasons child adoption orders made by An Bord Uchtála (the Adoption Board) might be found to be unconstitutional because they were not made by a court or judge. An amendment was therefore required to put the validity of these orders beyond question. The Sixth Amendment was introduced by a Fianna Fáil government but was supported by every other major political party and not controversial. It was put to a referendum on the same day as the similarly uncontroversial Seventh Amendment which dealt with university constituencies for the election of the Senate. The Sixth Amendment was approved almost unanimously on a low turnout with 601,694 (99.0%) votes in favour and 6,265 (1.0%) against.
Read more about this topic: Sixth Amendment Of The Constitution Of Ireland