Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland explained

Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
Relating to cabinet confidentiality
Flag Year:1997
Country:Republic of Ireland
Yes:632,777
No:569,175
Total:1,268,043
Electorate:2,688,316

The Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1997 amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that the confidentiality of meetings of the cabinet would not prevent the High Court from ordering that certain information be disclosed when this was in the public interest. It was approved by referendum on 30 October 1997 and signed into law on 14 November of the same year.

Changes to the text

Inserted a new subsection in Article 28.4:The existing subsection 3° of Article 28.4 was renumbered as subsection 4°.

Overview

In 1992, during the Beef Tribunal, the Supreme Court ruled that, as the constitution stood, the confidentiality of meetings of the Government (the cabinet) was unbreachable and absolute. The court derived its ruling from Article 28.4.2°, which requires that the Government observe the principle of collective responsibility. The purpose of the Seventeenth Amendment was to allow cabinet confidentiality to be relaxed in certain circumstances.

The amendment was adopted during the Fianna FáilProgressive Democrats coalition government led by Bertie Ahern but had been first drafted and suggested by the previous Fine Gael–Labour Party–Democratic Left government led by John Bruton. The amendment, therefore, had the support of all major parties. The referendum occurred on the same day as the 1997 presidential election.

Result

Constituency! rowspan=2
ElectorateVotesProportion of votes
YesNoYesNo
Carlow–Kilkenny83,91651.3%21,48719,07353.0%47.0%
Cavan–Monaghan81,91448.7%22,23214,82760.0%40.0%
Clare69,75650.0%18,21114,57855.6%44.4%
Cork East62,72153.1%16,83314,62053.6%46.4%
Cork North-Central70,86445.8%15,07315,83848.8%51.2%
Cork North-West46,36960.3%14,08611,78754.5%45.5%
Cork South-Central82,98152.8%20,51521,31949.1%50.9%
Cork South-West47,43957.8%14,48011,10456.6%43.4%
Donegal North-East51,72539.8%10,6798,59655.5%44.5%
Donegal South-West50,87841.7%11,5758,33958.2%41.8%
Dublin Central63,04634.6%11,0329,90752.7%47.3%
Dublin North62,88546.7%14,88713,52452.4%47.6%
Dublin North-Central65,75647.4%14,98115,11949.8%50.2%
Dublin North-East58,78542.0%12,12311,70650.9%49.1%
Dublin North-West59,67739.8%11,78011,14951.4%48.6%
Dublin South88,52250.5%20,17123,04346.7%53.3%
Dublin South-Central67,13842.5%13,68413,77149.9%50.1%
Dublin South-East62,14945.6%11,79415,41743.4%56.6%
Dublin South-West74,92934.8%13,55411,51254.1%45.9%
Dublin West65,55240.0%13,07012,20551.8%48.2%
Dún Laoghaire85,55748.9%19,06921,34647.2%52.8%
Galway East59,99251.3%16,01912,62856.0%44.0%
Galway West76,16945.8%16,43716,23950.4%49.6%
Kerry North50,74245.2%11,10410,31751.9%48.1%
Kerry South46,99148.3%11,6239,49055.1%44.9%
Kildare North50,59045.4%11,37110,75551.4%48.6%
Kildare South46,89342.6%10,2848,87553.7%46.3%
Laois–Offaly83,02749.8%21,08317,85254.2%45.8%
Limerick East75,73946.9%16,21317,55848.1%51.9%
Limerick West46,62852.5%12,10610,56753.4%46.6%
Longford–Roscommon62,20052.4%16,28114,26853.3%46.7%
Louth70,58444.4%16,72513,19156.0%44.0%
Mayo85,17848.7%21,59317,36655.5%44.5%
Meath88,28344.4%20,29916,98154.5%45.5%
Sligo–Leitrim63,23050.7%16,72613,38155.6%44.4%
Tipperary North52,23754.4%14,14012,33553.5%46.5%
Tipperary South50,92752.7%13,49611,88753.2%46.8%
Waterford68,54845.9%16,36913,32255.2%44.8%
Westmeath47,08048.8%11,60010,08653.5%46.5%
Wexford82,57047.7%20,21516,99254.4%45.6%
Wicklow78,14945.6%17,77716,30552.2%47.8%
Total2,688,31647.2%632,777569,17552.7%47.3%

See also

External links