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". 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.
Changes to the text
Initial changes after referendum (1998)
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.
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: Deletion of the entirety of Articles 2 and 3: and substitution of the Articles with the following: Insertion of the following as Article 29.8 :
Bill
A lay litigant named Denis Riordan launched a High Court challenge to the bill the week before the referendum. He claimed the bill was invalid because it purported to allow a mechanism to amend the Constitution by government declaration rather than by referendum. The court rejected the challenge on the grounds that the initial amendment would be by referendum and that by separation of powers the courts could not interfere in the legislative process.
Referendum result
After the referendum
The referendum returning officer certified the result in the High Court, which notified the Oireachtas, and the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1998 was signed into law by the President on 3 June 1998.This ipso facto effected the insertion of Article 28.7 of the Constitution and started the clock for the 12-month window within which the British-Irish Agreement would be ratified. The British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 served in Irish law to ratify the treaty and establish the associated cross-border institutions. The act was signed into law on 22 March 1999 but would not be commenced by the Taoiseach until the same date as the corresponding British law. Both were dependent on participation of the parties in Northern Ireland. Political disagreements within Northern Ireland meant that establishment would not take place by the deadline of 2 June 1999, so the Oireachtas rushed through a 12-month extension. A minor amendment to the British-Irish Agreement was signed on 18 June and the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 was accordingly amended on 25 June. The institutions were established on 2 December 1999, when the Irish government commenced the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 as amended, and the UK government simultaneously commenced the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Irish government accordingly made the declaration specified by Article 28.7.3º, triggering the replacement of Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, the insertion of Article 29.8, and the omission of the transitory subsections 3º–5º of Article 29.7.
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.
