67-643: The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008 ( bill no. 14 of 2008) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Ireland that was put to a referendum in 2008 (the first Lisbon referendum ). The purpose of the proposed amendment was to allow the state to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union . The amendment was rejected by voters on 12 June 2008 by a margin of 53.4% to 46.6%, with
134-450: A metonym for the department as a whole. From 1922 until 1971 the title of the office was "Minister for External Affairs" . The current office holder is Micheál Martin , TD . He is also Minister for Defence . He is assisted by: The department has the following divisions: The minister has responsibility for the relations between Ireland and foreign states. The department defines its role as: "The Department of Foreign Affairs advises
201-566: A public bill committee ; after that it became House of Lords Bill 33. Then it became House of Lords Bill 77, returned to the House of Commons as Bill 160, before finally being passed as Act 29. Parliament recommences numbering from one at the beginning of each session. This means that two different bills may have the same number. Sessions of parliament usually last a year. They begin with the State Opening of Parliament , and end with prorogation . In
268-468: A Yes vote in the referendum this consisted of trade unionists, business people, academics and politicians. Its members include Garret FitzGerald , Ruairi Quinn , Pat Cox and Michael O'Kennedy . The Taoiseach Brian Cowen stated that should any member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party campaign against the treaty, they would likely be expelled from the party. On 21 May 2008, the executive council of
335-623: A deal on World Trade reform was unacceptable. There were 3,051,278 voters on the electoral register . The vast majority of voting took place on Thursday, 12 June between 07:00 and 22:00. Counting began the following morning at 09:00. Several groups voted before the standard polling day: Some groups were able to cast postal votes before 9 June, namely: members of the Irish Defence Forces serving in United Nations peacekeeping missions ; Irish diplomats and their spouses abroad; members of
402-503: A law to be made it starts off as a bill and has to go through various stages: In the United Kingdom, a proposed new law starts off as a bill that goes through seven stages of the legislative process: first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage, third reading, opposite house, and royal assent. A bill is introduced by a member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons or by
469-493: A member of the House of Lords . There will be a first reading of the bill, in which the proposition in the bill is read out, but there is minimal discussion and no voting. A second reading of the bill follows, in which the bill is presented in more detail and it is discussed between the MPs or Lords. The third stage is the committee stage , in which a committee is gathered. This may include MPs, Lords, professionals and experts in
536-545: A member of the European Union established by virtue of that Treaty. 11° No provision of this Constitution invalidates laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the State that are necessitated by the obligations of membership of the European Union referred to in subsection 10 of this section, or prevents laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the said European Union or by institutions thereof, or by bodies competent under
603-470: A sequential number and are prefixed with "Republic Act" or "R.A." for short. They are also given a secondary sequential number by the chamber they are introduced in. Aforementioned numberings restart every three years after the formation of a new Congress. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Coroners and Justice Act in 2009 started as Bill 9 in the House of Commons. Then it became Bill 72 on consideration by
670-548: A treaty, whereas protocols are agreements between states as part of a treaty. Previous examples of Decisions and/or Declarations following a referendum rejection include the 1992 Edinburgh Agreement (following the first Danish referendum on the Maastricht Treaty ) and the 2002 Seville Declarations on the Treaty of Nice (following the first Irish referendum on the Treaty of Nice ). French President Nicolas Sarkozy , speaking to
737-636: A turnout of 53.1%. The treaty had been intended to enter into force on 1 January 2009, but had to be delayed following the Irish rejection. However, the Lisbon treaty was approved by Irish voters when the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the constitution was approved in the second Lisbon referendum, held in October 2009. The Treaty of Lisbon was signed by the member states of the European Union on 13 December 2007. It
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#1733093724036804-556: Is divided into year-long periods called sessions . Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ireland) The Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Irish : An tAire Gnóthaí Eachtracha ) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Foreign Affairs . The Minister's office is located at Iveagh House , on St Stephen's Green in Dublin; "Iveagh House" is often used as
871-456: Is the third reading of the bill, in which the full bill is read out in the house along with all amendments and is given final approval by the House. The next stage is where the bill is handed over to the opposite house for approval. (If it started in the House of Commons it will be handed to the House of Lords and vice versa.) Here the bill will go through the same process as before, with amendments able to be brought. If amendments are brought,
938-665: Is typically promulgated by being published in an official gazette . This may be required on enactment, coming into force, or both. Legislatures may give bills numbers as they progress. Bills are not given numbers in Australia and are typically cited by their short titles . They are only given an act number upon royal assent . In Brazil, bills originating in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies are numbered sequentially, prefixed with "PL" ( Projeto de Lei ) and optionally suffixed with
1005-574: The European Parliament in his capacity as President of the European Council during the six-month presidency of that body by France , stated that the legal guarantees would be added as a protocol later to the treaty, enabling Croatia to join the European Union legally . The guarantee that Ireland would keep its Commissioner provided Lisbon was ratified was criticised in the Irish Times on
1072-615: The Federal Constitutional Court has discretion to rule on bills. Some bills may require approval by referendum . In Ireland this is obligatory for bills to amend the constitution ; it is possible for other bills via a process that has never been used . A bill may come into force as soon as it becomes law, or it may specify a later date to come into force, or it may specify by whom and how it may be brought into force; for example, by ministerial order . Different parts of an act may come into force at different times. An act
1139-539: The Garda Síochána ; those unable to vote in person due to physical illness or disability ; those who would be unable to vote in person due to their employment (including students); and prisoners. On 9 June, several islands off the coast of County Donegal voted: Tory Island , Inisfree , Gola , Inishbofin and Arranmore Island ; these islands are all part of the Donegal South-West constituency. Around 37% of
1206-404: The House of Commons of Canada , the pro forma bill is numbered C-1, Government Bills are numbered C-2 to C-200, numbered sequentially from the start of each parliamentary session , and Private member's bills are numbered C-201 to C-1000, numbered sequentially from the start of each Parliament. The numbering system is identical in the Senate of Canada , except that bills first introduced in
1273-568: The Irish Congress of Trade Unions voted to support a Yes vote in the referendum. Rank and file members of the individual unions were not balloted and the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) advised its 45,000 members to vote No. The Irish bishops conference stated the Catholic Church's declaration that the treaty would not weaken Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion, however
1340-520: The Oireachtas and Knesset respectively became/become law immediately (though, in Israel's case, the laws are ceremonially signed after their passage by the president). In parliamentary systems , approval of the head of state is normally a formality since the head of state is a ceremonial figurehead. The exercise of the veto is considered a reserve power and is typically only used in rare circumstances, and
1407-725: The Oireachtas supported the Treaty. The main opposition parties of Fine Gael and the Labour Party were also in favour. Only one party represented in the Oireachtas, Sinn Féin , was opposed to the treaty, while minor parties opposed to it included the Socialist Party , the Workers' Party and the Socialist Workers Party . Independent TD's Tony Gregory and Finian McGrath , Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott , and Independent members of
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#17330937240361474-572: The Oireachtas . 13° The State may exercise the option to secure that the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (formerly known as the Treaty establishing the European Community) shall, in whole or in part, cease to apply to
1541-530: The Privy Council of Ireland and Privy Council of England , so in practice each bill was substantively debated as "heads of a bill", then submitted to the privy councils for approval, and finally formally introduced as a bill and rejected or passed unamended. In the Westminster system , where the executive is drawn from the legislature and usually holds a majority in the lower house, most bills are introduced by
1608-574: The Seanad from the universities David Norris , Shane Ross and Rónán Mullen advocated a No vote as well. The then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned against making Ireland a 'battlefield' for eurosceptics across Europe. The invitation by UCD's Law Society to French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen was seen as an example of this. Nigel Farage , leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party , committed his party to supporting
1675-525: The Treaty of Nice . The "No" faction could fight on whichever terrain they wished and could give positive reasons for rejecting the treaty, such as the possibility of renegotiation. Conversely, the "Yes" faction could only offer negatives and could only react to the statements of the other side. Lacking a clear identification of specifics, voters chose to vote "No". In September 2008 rumours in Brussels indicated that US billionaires and neocons heavily influenced
1742-528: The common law of the United Kingdom , including the United States . The parts of a bill are known as clauses , until it has become an act of parliament, from which time the parts of the law are known as sections . In nations that have civil law systems (including France , Belgium , Luxembourg , Spain and Portugal ), a proposed law is known as a "law project" (Fr. projet de loi ) if introduced by
1809-532: The legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive . Bills are introduced in the legislature and are there discussed, debated on, and voted upon. Once a bill has been enacted into law by the legislature, it is called an act of the legislature , or a statute . The word bill is mainly used in English-speaking nations formerly part of the British Empire whose legal systems originated in
1876-626: The 745 eligible voted. Two days later, several islands off the coast of Counties Galway and Mayo voted: the Aran Islands ( Inis Mór , Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr ) and Inishboffin form part of Galway West constituency; while Inishturk , Inishbiggle and Clare Island form part of the Mayo constituency. The Galway islands had 1,169 eligible to vote, while the Mayo islands had 197. Votes were counted separately in each Dáil constituency . The overall verdict
1943-467: The Constitution Bill proposed to make the following changes to Article 29.4: Deletion of subsections 9° and 11: Subsection 10° renumbered as subsection 9°. Insertion of the following subsections: 10° The State may ratify the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community , signed at Lisbon on the 13th day of December 2007, and may be
2010-701: The Constitution Bill was proposed in Dáil Éireann by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern on 2 April 2008. It passed final stages in the Dáil on 29 April, with Sinn Féin TDs and Independent TD Tony Gregory rising against, but with insufficient numbers to call a vote. It passed final stages in the Seanad on 7 May. A Referendum Commission was established by Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley . It
2077-663: The European Constitution .) Because of the decision of the Supreme Court in Crotty v. An Taoiseach (1987), an amendment to the Constitution was required before it could be ratified by Ireland. Ireland was the only one of the then 15 EU member states to put the Treaty to the people in a referendum. Ratification of the Treaty in all other member states was decided upon by national parliaments alone. The Twenty-eighth Amendment of
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2144-618: The Irish Times on 18 June 2008. The question was "Why did you vote no?" and the results are given below. A Flash Eurobarometer poll of 2,000 random respondents was conducted between 13 and 15 June on behalf of the European Commission by Gallup. Those respondents who voted "no" in the referendum were asked "Please tell me what are the reasons why you voted "no" to the treaty?" and the results are given below. French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet blamed "American neoconservatives" for
2211-455: The Irish vote by sponsoring the "No" campaigns, particularly those of Declan Ganley 's Libertas lobby group. It is said that US interest groups this way pursued their goal of hindering the European Union to become a stronger partner internationally. However, the British conservative MEP Jonathan Evans reported to EUobserver on 9 December 2008 after returning from a European Parliament delegation to
2278-465: The Irish voter's rejection of the treaty. In the meeting of the European Council (the meeting of the heads of government of all twenty-seven European Union member states) in Brussels on 11–12 December 2008, Taoiseach Brian Cowen presented the concerns of the Irish people relating to taxation policy, family, social and ethical issues, and Ireland's policy of neutrality. Effectively Ireland's position
2345-532: The Lisbon treaty were therefore also of concern. Few expressed specifically anti-EU statements, but pro-EU sentiments were interpreted or expressed in favour of an idealised/desired EU and expressed concern about its present form or the future direction of the EU post-Lisbon. To keep Ireland's power and identity, voters chose to vote "no". Another factor in Lisbon's failure was Lisbon itself. An impenetrable legal document, it could not be understood without close study, and even
2412-614: The No campaign saying: “UKIP members will be encouraged to go to Ireland to help.” The Government sent bilingual booklets written in English and Irish, explaining the Treaty, to all 2.5 million Irish households. However compendiums of the two previous treaties, of which the Lisbon Treaty is intended to be a series of reforms and amendments, remain unavailable in Ireland. Some commentators have argued that
2479-629: The Referendum Commission – the nonpartisan body set up to explain it – could not explain it all. The treaty's lack of clarity meant that interpretations could not be confidently stated to be true or false. Consequently, issues such as abortion, tax, euthanasia, the veto, EU directives, qualified majority voting, Ireland's commissioner, detention of three-year-olds, the death penalty, Euroarmy conscription, gay marriage, immigration, nuclear energy, workers' rights, sovereignty, and neutrality were raised, some of which were spurious or actually dealt with by
2546-535: The Senate of Canada begin with "S" instead of "C". In the Irish Oireachtas , bills are numbered sequentially from the start of each calendar year. Bills originating in the Dáil and Seanad share a common sequence. There are separate sequences for public and private bills, the latter prefixed with "P". Although acts to amend the constitution are outside the annual sequence used for other public acts, bills to amend
2613-487: The State, but any such exercise shall be subject to the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas. 14° The State may agree to the decisions, regulations or other acts under — 15° The State shall not adopt a decision taken by the European Council to establish a common defence pursuant to — On 26 February 2008, the Government of Ireland approved the text of the changes to the constitution. The Twenty-eighth Amendment of
2680-455: The US, "[o]ur congressional colleagues drew our attention to a statement from US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte at Trinity College Dublin on 17 November, completely refuting the suggestion of any US dimension whatsoever". The European Parliament is considering launching "an inquiry to discover whether US agencies actively supported Libertas in the 12 June referendum." A poll was published by
2747-509: The United States, all bills originating in the House of Representatives are numbered sequentially and prefixed with "H.R." and all bills originating from the Senate begin with an "S.". Every two years, at the start of odd-numbered years, the Congress recommences numbering from 1, though for bills the House has an order reserving the first 20 bill numbers and the Senate has similar measures for
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2814-408: The above were implemented satisfactorily. The European Council did not specify what forms the legal guarantees would take. The Sunday Business Post stated that what the European Council had offered were Decisions and/or Declarations, not protocols. Decisions and/or Declarations of the European Council are agreements made between all twenty-seven member states of the European Union and are not part of
2881-516: The approval of the head of state such as the monarch, president, or governor to become law. The refusal of such an approval is typically known as a veto . Exceptions are the Irish Free State from the abolition of the governor-general in December 1936 to the creation of the office of president in December 1937, and Israel from its formation until today, during which period bills approved by
2948-402: The bill will again be handed to the opposite house, going through the same process, which repeats until both houses arrive at an agreement on the bill. (In the rare circumstance that the two houses cannot agree, the House of Commons has the final say since it is an elected body, whereas the House of Lords is not). Once the bill is finalised, it will move to the final stage, royal assent , when
3015-492: The bill will be put into effect. The preparation of a bill may involve the production of a draft bill prior to the introduction of the bill into the legislature. In the United Kingdom, draft bills are frequently considered to be confidential. Pre-legislative scrutiny is a formal process carried out by a parliamentary committee on a draft bill. In the Parliament of India , the draft bill is sent to individual ministry relating to
3082-772: The conference did not advocate either a Yes or No vote. By the start of June, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party had united in their push for a Yes vote despite earlier divisions. The two largest farming organisations, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) and the Irish Farmers' Association called for a Yes vote, the latter giving its support after assurances from the Taoiseach Brian Cowen that Ireland would use its veto in Europe if
3149-511: The constitution are within the annual sequence of public bills. In the Philippines , all bills passed into law, regardless of whether they were introduced in the House of Representatives or the Senate , are numbered sequentially beginning with the first Republic Act that became law on July 15, 1946. There have been 11,646 Republic Acts as of January 21, 2022. All laws passed by Congress, once given presidential assent, become law and are given
3216-457: The executive ( government bill ). In principle, the legislature meets to consider the demands of the executive, as set out in the King's Speech or speech from the throne . Mechanisms exist to allow other members of the legislature to introduce bills, but they are subject to strict timetables and usually fail unless a consensus is reached. In the US system, where the executive is formally separated from
3283-458: The field, and other people who the bill may affect. The purpose of this stage is to go into more detail on the bill and gather expert opinions on it (e.g. teachers may be present in a committee about a bill that would affect the education system) and amendments may be brought. After this is the report stage , in which the entire house reviews any and all changes made to the bill since its conception and may bring further amendments. The fifth stage
3350-430: The first 10 bills. Joint resolutions also have the same effect as bills, and are titled as "H. J. Res." or "S. J. Res." depending on whether they originated in the House or Senate, respectively. This means that two different bills can have the same number. Each two-year span is called a congress , tracking the terms of Representatives elected in the nationwide biennial House of Representatives elections, and each congress
3417-548: The government and Fine Gael of a U-turn on their previous policy of discouraging foreign leaders from visiting Ireland during the referendum campaign. The European Commissioner for the Internal Market Charlie McCreevy admitted he had not read the Treaty from cover to cover, and said "he would not expect any sane person to do so". At the start of May, the Irish Alliance for Europe launched its campaign for
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#17330937240363484-461: The government, or a "law proposition" (Fr. proposition de loi ) if a private member's bill . Some legislatures do not make this terminological distinction (for example the Dutch parliament uses wetsontwerp and wetsvoorstel interchangeably). Bills generally include titles , enacting provisions , statements of intent , definitions , substantive provisions , transitional clauses , and dates which
3551-487: The grounds that it may lead to an oversized European Commission. The Twenty-eighth Amendment in October 2009 formally authorised the government to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. Official websites Unofficial consolidated treaties Media overviews Political party campaigns Groups Articles Bill (law) A bill is a proposal for a new law, or a proposal to substantially alter an existing law. A bill does not become law until it has been passed by
3618-403: The legislature can usually override the veto by a simple majority vote. However, in most cases, the executive – a cabinet of ministers responsible to parliament – takes a veto by the head of state into account. In presidential systems , the head of state is also the chief executive, and the need to receive approval can be used as a political tool by them. The legislature is only able to override
3685-420: The legislature, all bills must originate from the legislature. Bills can be introduced using the following procedures: Bills are generally considered through a number of readings. This refers to the historic practice of the clerical officers of the legislature reading the contents of a bill to the legislature. While the bill is no longer read, the motions on the bill still refer to this practice. In India , for
3752-589: The matter. From there the bill goes to the Ministry of Law and Justice and then is passed on to the Cabinet committee which the prime minister heads. Pre-legislative scrutiny is required in much of Scandinavia, occurs in Ireland at the discretion of the Oireachtas (parliament) and occurs in the UK at the government's discretion. In the Parliament of Ireland under Poynings' Law (1494–1782) legislation had to be pre-approved by
3819-409: The monarch signs or otherwise signifies approval for the bill to become law. Theoretically, the monarch could refuse assent to a bill, but no monarch has done so since Queen Anne in 1708, and the royal veto has fallen into disuse. Once the assent is granted, the law comes into effect at the date and time specified within the act; if this is not specified within the act, it comes into effect at midnight on
3886-413: The same day it is granted royal assent. Where a piece of primary legislation is termed an act , the process of a bill becoming law may be termed enactment . Once a bill is passed by the legislature, it may automatically become law, or it may need further approval, in which case enactment may be effected by the approver's signature or proclamation . Bills passed by the legislature usually require
3953-422: The treaties referred to in this section, from having the force of law in the State. 12° The State may exercise the options or discretions provided by or under Articles 1.22, 2.64, 2.65, 2.66, 2.67, 2.68 and 2.278 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 10 of this section and Articles 1.18 and 1.20 of Protocol No. 1 annexed to that Treaty, but any such exercise shall be subject to the prior approval of both Houses of
4020-448: The treaty remains essentially incomprehensible in the absence of such a compendium. On 12 March 2008, Libertas , a lobby group started by businessman Declan Ganley launched a campaign called Facts, not politics which advocated a No vote in the referendum. A month later, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel appealed to Irish people to vote Yes in the referendum whilst on a visit to Ireland. The anti-Lisbon Treaty campaign group accused
4087-416: The veto by means of a supermajority vote. In some jurisdictions, a bill passed by the legislature may also require approval by a constitutional court . If the court finds the bill would violate the constitution it may annul it or send it back to the legislature for correction. In Ireland, the president has discretion under Article 26 of the Constitution to refer bills to the Supreme Court . In Germany,
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#17330937240364154-504: The year they were proposed, separated by a slash, as in PL 1234/1988. Until 2019, each house used a different numbering and naming system, but the system was unified by a 2018 joint act by the secretaries of both houses. Before the 2019 unification, the Senate numbered bills starting at the beginning of each year, while the lower house numbered bills starting at the beginning of each legislature. This meant that bills sent from one house to another could adopt two or more different names. In
4221-409: Was chaired by former High Court judge Iarfhlaith O'Neill. Its role was to prepare one or more statements containing a general explanation of the subject matter of the proposal and of the text of the proposal in the amendment bill. Participants were: The government parties of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats were in favour of the treaty, but the other government party, the Green Party ,
4288-442: Was divided on the issue. At a special convention on 19 January 2008, the leadership of the Green Party failed to secure a two-thirds majority required to make support for the referendum official party policy. The result of the vote was 63% in favour. As a result, the Green Party itself did not participate in the referendum debate, although individual members were free to be involved in whatever side they chose; all Green Party members of
4355-474: Was formally announced by the Referendum Returning officer in Dublin Castle by accumulating the constituency totals. The national result was as follows: Ireland had begun to cast a sceptical eye on the EU and general concerns about how Europe was developing were raised. In Spring 2007, the Irish citizenry had the second least European identity in the EU, with 59% identifying as exclusively Irish as opposed to wholly/partly European. The integrationist aspects of
4422-445: Was in large part a revision of the text of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe after its rejection in referendums in France in May 2005 and in the Netherlands in June 2005 . The Treaty of Lisbon preserved most of the content of the Constitution, especially the new rules on the functioning of the European Institutions, but gives up any symbolic or terminologic reference to a Constitution. (See Treaty of Lisbon compared to
4489-434: Was renegotiated, and the revised package was approved by the electorate in 2009. Because of the Irish financial crisis it was also apparent that Ireland would need increased financial support from the European Union . The European Council agreed that: The Irish Government then committed to seeking ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon by the end of the term of the current European Commission (October 2009), provided that
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