The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, the founding legal document of the Republic of Ireland, removed from the constitution a controversial reference to the "special position" of the Roman Catholic Church as well as recognition of certain other named religious denominations. It was effected by the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1972 which was approved by referendum on 7th December, 1972 and signed into law on 5th January, 1973.
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By 1972 the reference in the constitution, as it had been adopted in 1937, to the "special position" of the Catholic Church was seen as discriminating against Protestants and as one possible barrier to a united Ireland. 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 disrimination. Though the changes shown above are those made to the English language version of the constitution, constitutionally it is the Irish text that takes precedence.
This Fifth Amendment was introduced by the Fianna Fáil government of Jack Lynch and supported by every other major political party. The Catholic Church did not voice any objection to the amendment but it was opposed by some conservative Catholics. The referendum on the amendment occurred on the same day as the referendum on the Fourth Amendment which lowered the voting age to eighteen. The Fifth Amendment was approved by 721,003 (84.4%) in favour and 133,430 (15.6%) against.
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