The Ninth Amendment of Bunreacht na hÉireann, the constitution of the Republic of Ireland, extended the right to vote in elections to Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament) to certain non-Irish citizens. It was effected by the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1984, which was approved by referendum on 14th June 1984 and signed into law on the 2nd August of the same year.
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The purpose of the Ninth Amendment was to allow UK citizens resident in the Republic to vote in Dáil elections. This was to reciprocate the 1949 Ireland Act, which had granted Irish citizens resident in the UK the right to vote in elections to the British parliament. The effect of the amendment was to allow the Oireachtas (parliament) to extend the right to vote at Dáil elections to any non-citizens it chooses by simply passing a law. The amendment did not effect presidential elections or referenda, for which one must still be an Irish citizen in order to vote. It should be noted that, while the changes shown above are those made to the English language version of the constitution, constitutionally it is the Irish text that has precedence.
The Ninth Amendment was introduced by the Garret FitzGerald's Fine Gael-Labour coalition government but was also formally supported by Fianna Fáil (the major opposition party). When submitted to referendum it was adopted, on a low turnout, by 828,483 (75.4%) votes in favour to 270,250 (24.6%) against.
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