Article 26 References

Article 26 of the Constitution provides that the President of Ireland may, after consultation with the Council of State, refer Bills of the type prescribed in that Article to the Supreme Court for a decision as to whether any such Bill or specified provision(s) thereof is repugnant to the Constitution. There have been 15 such references to date.

To view the full text of each judgment in HTML format please click on the title of the judgment below.

 

 

No.   

Year      

Judgment Title                                                                                          
     
1. 1940 In re Article 26 and the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill 1940
       
2. 1943 In re Article 26 and the School Attendance Bill 1942
       
3. 1961 In re Article 26 and the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 1961
       
4. 1976 In re Article 26 and the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Bill 1975
       
5. 1976 In re Article 26 and the Emergency Powers Bill 1976
       
6. 1982 In re Article 26 and the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Bill 1981
       
7. 1984 In re Article 26 and the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 1983
       
8. 1988 In re Article 26 and the Adoption (No.2) Bill 1987
       
9. 1994 In re Article 26 and Matrimonial Home Bill 1993
      
10. 1995

In re Article 26 and the Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for the Termination of Pregnancies) Bill 1995
      
11. 1997 In re Article 26 and the Employment Equality Bill 1996
      
12. 1997 In re Article 26 and the Equal Status Bill 1997
      
13. 2000 In re Article 26 and the Planning and Development Bill 1999
      
14. 2000 In re Article 26 and the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill 1999
      
15. 2005 In re Article 26 and the Health (Amendment) (No 2) Bill 2004

 

The texts of these judgments have been made available with the permission of the Law Reporting Council of Ireland and Justis Publishing Ltd.