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The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1972 is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which deleted two subsections that recognised the special position of the Catholic Church and that recognised other named religious denominations. It was approved by referendum on 7 December 1972 and signed into law on 5 January 1973.
The amendment renumbered Article 44.1.1° as Article 41.1 and deleted the following two subsections from Article 41.1:
2° The State recognises the special position of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church as the guardian of the Faith professed by the great majority of the citizens.
3° The State also recognises the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland, as well as the Jewish Congregations and the other religious denominations existing in Ireland at the date of the coming into operation of this Constitution.
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In drafting the Irish constitution in 1936 and 1937, Éamon de Valera and his advisers chose to reflect what had been a contemporary willingness by constitution drafters and lawmakers in Europe to mention and in some ways recognise religion in explicit detail. This contrasted with many 1920s constitutions, notably the Constitution of the Irish Free State of 1922, which, following the secularism of the initial period after World War I, simply prohibited any discrimination based on religion, or avoided religious issues entirely.
De Valera, his advisers (including John Charles McQuaid, the future Archbishop of Dublin), and the men who put words to de Valera's concepts for the constitution (John Hearne and Mícheál Ó Gríobhtha) faced conflicting demands in drafting of the article on religion.
De Valera's solution was Article 44. In contemporary terms, it marked a defeat for conservative Catholics, and Pope Pius XI explicitly withheld his approval from it:
Though perceived in retrospect as a sectarian article, Article 44 was praised in 1937 by leaders of Irish Protestant churches (notably the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin) and by Jewish groups. Conservative Catholics condemned it as "liberal".
When the contents of Article 44 were put to Pope Pius XI by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (then Cardinal Secretary of State, later Pope Pius XII), the pope stated in diplomatic language: "We do not approve, nor do we not disapprove – we will remain silent." (Italian : "Ni approvo ni non disapprovo; taceremo." [1] ) It was said that the pope was privately more appreciative of the constitution, and Pius XII later praised it publicly. [2]
During the 1950s the Catholic Integrist group Maria Duce, led by Irish Catholic priest Denis Fahey, launched a campaign to amend the Article 44 of the Constitution of Ireland. [3] Fahey argued that this was insufficient and that the Constitution should recognise the Catholic Church as being divinely ordained and separate from 'man-made' religions. [4] The campaign succeeded in securing a resolution of support from Westmeath county council in 1950, but no further progress towards the goal of a constitutional amendment was made. [5]
| | This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2023) |
By 1972, an article once condemned by critics as liberal and indeed by some as offensive to Catholicism, had come to be seen as out of place, dated, and potentially discriminatory to Protestants. The "special position" granted to the Catholic Church, albeit in an undefined manner, was a special status that was out of step with post-Vatican II Catholic thinking on the relationships between the churches. The Protestant churches, though they had declined in adherents, were more outspoken and willing to express their unhappiness than they had been in the Ireland of the 1920s and 1930s, when many were fearful that criticism of the Irish state would be seen as criticism of Irish independence and so implicitly a preference for the British regime that had ruled Ireland before 1922.
In addition, in the rapprochement between Northern Ireland and what was by then known as the Republic of Ireland, many southerners perceived the "special position" as a barrier to an improved north–south relationship, and even a potential source of discrimination against minorities. In addition, the explicit recognition of certain denominations was seen as unnecessary because of the provisions Article 44.2, which contains guarantees of freedom of worship and against religious discrimination.
The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1972 was proposed by Fianna Fáil Taoiseach Jack Lynch. [6] It was supported by the opposition parties Fine Gael and the Labour Party and passed final stages in the Dáil on 2 November 1972. [7] It passed all stages in the Seanad on 3 November and proceeded to a referendum on 7 December 1972. [8]
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The Catholic Church did not voice any objection to the amendment, but it was opposed by some conservative Catholics. Some leading members of the Church of Ireland and the Jewish Community said during the campaign that while they appreciated the Article's recognition of their existence (and in the case of the Jewish Community, their right to exist, in contrast to anti-Jewish laws in other states) in 1937, it was no longer needed in the 1970s and had lost its usefulness.
The referendum on the amendment occurred on the same day as the referendum on the Fourth Amendment which lowered the voting age to eighteen.
After its approval by referendum, the amendment was made to the Constitution after it was signed into law by the President of Ireland, who was then Éamon de Valera, the man who had drafted the original article.
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Yes | 721,003 | 84.38 |
| No | 133,430 | 15.62 |
| Valid votes | 854,433 | 94.54 |
| Invalid or blank votes | 49,326 | 5.46 |
| Total votes | 903,759 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,783,604 | 50.67 |
| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Votes | Proportion of votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Yes | No | |||
| Carlow–Kilkenny | 59,415 | 55.2% | 26,589 | 4,040 | 86.8% | 13.2% |
| Cavan | 37,229 | 54.0% | 16,775 | 1,838 | 90.1% | 9.9% |
| Clare | 39,413 | 47.6% | 15,099 | 2,389 | 86.3% | 13.7% |
| Clare–South Galway | 34,820 | 52.6% | 15,298 | 1,813 | 89.4% | 10.6% |
| Cork City North-West | 36,115 | 48.2% | 11,821 | 4,805 | 71.1% | 28.9% |
| Cork City South-East | 36,476 | 53.9% | 13,701 | 5,212 | 72.4% | 27.6% |
| Cork Mid | 49,402 | 53.8% | 20,430 | 4,571 | 81.7% | 18.3% |
| Cork North-East | 50,016 | 54.8% | 20,986 | 4,640 | 81.9% | 18.1% |
| Cork South-West | 38,285 | 53.1% | 14,620 | 4,545 | 76.3% | 23.7% |
| Donegal North-East | 37,924 | 43.4% | 13,260 | 1,736 | 88.4% | 11.6% |
| Donegal–Leitrim | 38,540 | 46.2% | 14,705 | 1,937 | 88.0% | 12.0% |
| Dublin Central | 46,775 | 43.7% | 15,718 | 3,648 | 81.2% | 18.8% |
| Dublin County North | 58,761 | 48.6% | 23,804 | 3,897 | 85.9% | 14.1% |
| Dublin County South | 45,289 | 55.5% | 20,966 | 3,572 | 85.4% | 14.6% |
| Dublin North-Central | 49,073 | 49.4% | 18,933 | 4,505 | 80.8% | 19.2% |
| Dublin North-East | 55,483 | 52.9% | 24,128 | 4,450 | 84.4% | 15.6% |
| Dublin North-West | 44,369 | 46.6% | 16,386 | 3,488 | 82.4% | 17.6% |
| Dublin South-Central | 50,400 | 48.7% | 19,582 | 4,134 | 82.6% | 17.4% |
| Dublin South-East | 37,840 | 50.8% | 15,267 | 3,138 | 82.9% | 17.1% |
| Dublin South-West | 41,740 | 45.0% | 14,956 | 2,901 | 83.8% | 16.2% |
| Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown | 56,151 | 57.7% | 27,136 | 4,443 | 85.9% | 14.1% |
| Galway North-East | 34,358 | 47.1% | 13,721 | 1,385 | 90.8% | 9.2% |
| Galway West | 35,999 | 42.7% | 12,903 | 1,813 | 87.7% | 12.3% |
| Kerry North | 37,018 | 43.0% | 12,886 | 1,946 | 86.9% | 13.1% |
| Kerry South | 36,391 | 43.2% | 12,642 | 1,940 | 86.7% | 13.3% |
| Kildare | 40,065 | 50.6% | 16,942 | 2,369 | 87.7% | 12.3% |
| Laois–Offaly | 56,344 | 55.1% | 25,171 | 4,452 | 85.0% | 15.0% |
| Limerick East | 47,001 | 54.5% | 18,109 | 6,133 | 74.7% | 25.3% |
| Limerick West | 35,904 | 56.5% | 16,327 | 2,772 | 85.5% | 14.5% |
| Longford–Westmeath | 47,095 | 49.4% | 18,592 | 3,141 | 85.5% | 14.5% |
| Louth | 40,278 | 50.4% | 16,449 | 2,811 | 85.4% | 14.6% |
| Mayo East | 34,810 | 46.2% | 13,729 | 1,376 | 90.9% | 9.1% |
| Mayo West | 34,106 | 44.3% | 12,593 | 1,419 | 89.9% | 10.1% |
| Meath | 39,040 | 50.2% | 15,689 | 2,577 | 85.9% | 14.1% |
| Monaghan | 36,214 | 47.3% | 13,987 | 1,901 | 88.0% | 12.0% |
| Roscommon–Leitrim | 37,682 | 51.3% | 15,421 | 2,416 | 86.5% | 13.5% |
| Sligo–Leitrim | 38,049 | 48.8% | 14,578 | 2,496 | 85.4% | 14.6% |
| Tipperary North | 34,754 | 58.0% | 15,578 | 3,014 | 83.8% | 16.2% |
| Tipperary South | 46,127 | 58.6% | 20,801 | 4,353 | 82.7% | 17.3% |
| Waterford | 39,513 | 53.6% | 17,174 | 2,902 | 85.5% | 14.5% |
| Wexford | 49,881 | 52.3% | 21,032 | 3,544 | 85.6% | 14.4% |
| Wicklow | 39,389 | 52.0% | 16,519 | 2,968 | 84.8% | 15.2% |
| Total | 1,783,604 | 50.7% | 721,003 | 133,430 | 84.4% | 15.6% |
Éamon de Valera was an Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of government and head of state and had a leading role in introducing the 1937 Constitution of Ireland.
The Irish Free State, also known by its Irish name Saorstát Éireann, was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the forces of the Irish Republic – the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and British Crown forces.
The president of Dáil Éireann, later also president of the Irish Republic, was the leader of the revolutionary Irish Republic of 1919–1922. The office was created in the Dáil Constitution adopted by Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Republic, at its first meeting in January 1919. This provided that the president was elected by the Dáil as head of a cabinet called the Ministry of Dáil Éireann. During this period, Ireland was deemed part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in international law, but the Irish Republic had made a unilateral Declaration of Independence on 21 January 1919. On 6 December 1922, after the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State was recognised as a sovereign state, and the position of the President of Dáil Éireann was replaced by that of President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State but, as a Dominion of the British Empire, King George V was head of state.
The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the tradition of liberal democracy. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executive president, a bicameral parliament, a separation of powers and judicial review.
The Constitution of the Irish Free State was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution, the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 of the British Parliament, which came into effect upon receiving the royal assent on 5 December 1922, provided that the Constitution would come into effect upon the issue of a Royal Proclamation, which was done on 6 December 1922. In 1937 the Constitution of the Irish Free State was replaced by the modern Constitution of Ireland following a referendum.
A state religion is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion, while not a secular state, is not necessarily a theocracy. State religions are official or government-sanctioned establishments of a religion, but the state does not need to be under the control of the clergy, nor is the state-sanctioned religion necessarily under the control of the state.
The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history, the Church has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance, from the Roman Empire to the medieval divine right of kings, from nineteenth- and twentieth-century concepts of democracy and pluralism to the appearance of left- and right-wing dictatorial regimes. The Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis humanae stated that religious freedom is a civil right that should be recognized in constitutional law.
Seanad Éireann was the upper house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936. It has also been known simply as the Senate, First Seanad, Free State Senate or Free State Seanad. The Seanad was established under the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State. A number of constitutional amendments were made to change the manner of its election and its powers. It was eventually abolished in 1936 when it attempted to obstruct constitutional reforms favoured by the government. It sat, like its modern successor, in Leinster House.
The Third Amendment of the Constitution Act 1972 is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland that permitted the State to join the European Communities, which would later become the European Union, and provided that European Community law would take precedence over the constitution. It was approved by referendum on 10 May 1972, and signed into law by the President of Ireland Éamon de Valera on 8 June of the same year.
The Blaine Amendment was a failed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have prohibited direct government aid to educational institutions that have a religious affiliation. Most state constitutions already had such provisions, and thirty-eight of the fifty states have clauses that prohibit taxpayer funding of religious entities in their state constitutions.
Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Northern Ireland, Prussia, Scotland, and the United States, turned anti-Catholicism, opposition to the authority of Catholic clergy (anti-clericalism), opposition to the authority of the pope (anti-papalism), mockery of Catholic rituals, and opposition to Catholic adherents into major political themes and policies of religious discrimination and religious persecution. Major examples of groups that have targeted Catholics in recent history include Ulster loyalists in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and the second Ku Klux Klan in the United States. The anti-Catholic sentiment which resulted from this trend frequently led to religious discrimination against Catholic communities and individuals and it occasionally led to the religious persecution of them. Historian John Wolffe identifies four types of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cultural.
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Anti-Protestantism is bias, hatred or distrust against some or all branches of Protestantism and/or its followers, especially when amplified in legal, political, ethic or military measures.
The Catholic Church in Ireland or Irish Catholic Church, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See. With 3.7 million members, it is the largest Christian church in Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland's 2016 census, 78% of the population identified as Catholic; this was 6% lower than the 2011 figure. By contrast, 41% of people in Northern Ireland identified as Catholic at the 2011 census; it is expected that this proportion will increase in the coming years. The Archbishop of Armagh, as the Primate of All Ireland, has ceremonial precedence in the church. The church is administered on an all-Ireland basis. The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference is a consultative body for ordinaries in Ireland.
The Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1958 was a proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland to alter the electoral system from proportional representation under the single transferable vote (PR-STV) to first-past-the-post (FPTP). The proposal was rejected in a referendum held on 17 June 1959. This was the same date as the presidential election in which Taoiseach Éamon de Valera was elected as president.
The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968 was a bill to amend the Constitution of Ireland to alter the electoral system for elections to Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas, from proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) to first-past-the-post (FPTP). It was one of two referendums on the elections held on 16 October 1968, the other being a proposal to allow a greater variance in representation. Both bills were rejected.
The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1986 was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Ireland to remove the prohibition on divorce. The proposal was rejected in a referendum on 26 June 1986. It was the first of two referendums held in Ireland on the question of divorce; the Fifteenth Amendment in 1995 allowed for divorce under specified conditions.
The predominant religion in the Republic of Ireland is Christianity, with the largest denomination being the Catholic Church. The Constitution of Ireland says that the state may not endorse any particular religion and guarantees freedom of religion.
In Ireland, "publication or utterance of blasphemous matter", defamatory of any religion, was a criminal offence until 17 January 2020. It was a requirement of the 1937 Constitution until removed after a 2018 referendum. The common law offence of blasphemous libel, applicable only to Christianity and last prosecuted in 1855, was believed to fulfil the constitutional requirement until a 1999 ruling that it was incompatible with the constitution's guarantee of religious equality. The Defamation Act 2009 included a provision intended to fill the lacuna while being "virtually impossible" to enforce, and no prosecution was made under it. The 2009 statute increased controversy, with proponents of freedom of speech and freedom of religion arguing for amending the constitution. After the 2018 constitutional amendment, a separate bill to repeal the 2009 provision and residual references to blasphemy was enacted in 2019 by the Oireachtas (parliament) and came into force in 2020. The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, which includes religion among the characteristics protected from incitement to hatred, remains in force.
Secularism in the Republic of Ireland has been described as a "Quiet Revolution", comparable to the Quiet Revolution in Quebec. It is an unofficial term that encompasses a number of significant social and political movements related to secularism and secularization, which have occurred within the last thirty years, and involved no violence or force. It has been described as a period where "the people led, and the politicians followed". Since the passing of a 1972 amendment with overwhelming public support, Ireland has had a secular constitution, although a high degree of religious influence over laws, education, and state business still persisted in the decades which followed, diminishing only in more recent times. In an assessment of the Irish state's overall secularity, Humanists International gave Ireland a mixed score, finding "systematic discrimination" against non-religious people in government, education, and society.
