Editing Ordinary referendum (section)

==History==
The 1922 [[Constitution of the Irish Free State]] included in Article 47 provision for a referendum similar to the current 1937 Constitution's ordinary referendum.<ref name="const1922">{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1922/en/act/pub/0001/index.html|title=Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) Act, 1922|work=[[Irish Statute Book]]|access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="Hogan45112">Hogan ''et al.'' 2003, p.418, §4.5.112</ref> The procedure required, first, a petition by 40% of TDs or 50% of Senators for a 90-day stay on the [[Governor-General of the Irish Free State|Governor-General]]'s giving [[Royal Assent]] to the bill, and then either a resolution by [[Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State)|the Seanad]] or a petition by 5% of voters demanding a referendum.<ref name="const1922" /> Approval of a law under Article 47 required half of votes cast at referendum, whereas approval of a Constitutional amendment (under Article 50) required either half of registered voters or two-thirds of votes cast.<ref name="const1922" /><ref name="Sait1938">{{cite book|last=Sait|first=Edward McChesney|title=Political Institutions: A Preface|url=https://archive.org/details/politicalinstitu0000sait|url-access=registration|access-date=23 June 2013|year=1938|publisher=D. Appleton-Century Company, incorporated|page=[https://archive.org/details/politicalinstitu0000sait/page/332 332]}}</ref>

The sole attempt to invoke this was in relation to the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1927, which penalised Oireachtas members who refused to take the [[Oath of Allegiance (Ireland)|Oath of Allegiance]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1927/en/act/pub/0033/print.html|title=Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1927|work=[[Irish Statute Book]]|access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> [[Fianna Fáil]] TDs, who were [[abstentionism|abstentionist]] and refused to take the Oath, attempted to lodge a petition under Article 47; the [[Government of the 5th Dáil|then government]] introduced another bill to amend the Constitution such that only TDs and Senators who had taken the Oath would have the power to make such a petition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1927072700007?opendocument|title=PUBLIC BUSINESS. – CONSTITUTION (AMENDMENT No. 6) BILL, 1927—SECOND READING.|date=27 July 1927|work=Dáil Éireann debates|access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="Lyons1985">{{cite book|last=Lyons|first=Francis Stewart Leland|author-link=F. S. L. Lyons|title=Ireland since the famine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ax0OAQAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Fontana|page=498}}</ref> When Fianna Fáil subsequently entered the Dáil, the [[Government of the 6th Dáil|next government]] deleted Article 47 from the Constitution altogether in 1928.<ref name="Lyons1985" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/1928/06/07/00013.asp|title=PUBLIC BUSINESS. – CONSTITUTION (AMENDMENT No. 10) BILL, 1928—FIRST STAGE.|date=7 June 1928|work=Dáil Éireann debates|access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1928/en/act/pub/0008/print.html|title=Constitution (Amendment No. 10) Act, 1928|work=[[Irish Statute Book]]|access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref>

The current 1937 Constitution included a transitional provision for the first President's first three years, during which constitutional amendments could be enacted without referendum. The President could override this and demand a referendum: unlike an ordinary referendum, no Oireachtas petition was required, although a meeting of the Council of State was.<ref>{{cite book |title=Constitutions of nations: the first compilation in the English language of the texts of the constitutions of the various nations of the world, together with summaries, annotations, bibliographies, and comparative tables  |chapter=Constitution of Ireland, Article 51 |date=1950 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/constitutionsofn02peas#page/263/mode/1up |pages=263–4 |access-date=11 January 2016 |first=Amos J. |last=Peaslee |publisher=Rumford Press |location=Concord, NH}}</ref> In the event, both the [[First Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|First Amendment]] (1939) and the [[Second Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|Second Amendment]] (1941) were passed with cross-party support and signed by [[Douglas Hyde]] without referendum.

The [[Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2013|2013 bill to abolish the Seanad]] would, if enacted, also have removed the provision for ordinary referendums.<ref name="memorandum">{{cite web |url=http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2013/6313/b6313d.pdf#page=63|title=Explanatory memorandum to bill as initiated|date=6 June 2013 |work=Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 |publisher=Oireachtas |page=7 |access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref> This was given as a reason for opposing the bill by Professor Richard Sinnott,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/debate/letters/referendum-on-the-future-of-the-seanad-1.1547808?page=3|title=Letters: Referendum on the future of the Seanad|last=Sinnott|first=Richard|date=3 October 2013|work=The Irish Times|access-date=9 October 2013}}</ref> the [[Green Party (Ireland)|Green Party]],<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.greenparty.ie/news.html?n=265|title=Voting yes on Friday gives absolute power to the Dáil – to be avoided at all costs|date=30 September 2013|publisher=Green Party|access-date=9 October 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190824/http://www.greenparty.ie/news.html?n=265|archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref> and [[Éamon Ó Cuív]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/64202/-cuv-warns-that-yes-vote-will-scrap-more-than-just-seanad|title=Ó Cuív warns that Yes vote will scrap more than just Seanad|date=3 October 2013|work=Galway Advertiser|access-date=9 October 2013}}</ref>