Polling at the referendum took place on Thursday, 7 June 2001. Referendums on the prohibition of the death penalty
(Twenty-first Amendment of the Constitution (No. 2) Bill 2001 and the
International Criminal Court (Twenty-third Amendment of the Constitution Bill
2001 also took place on the same day.
The subject matter of the referendum was described as follows in a leaflet sent to
each elector:
‘WHITE BALLOT PAPER – THE TREATY OF NICE
THE TWENTY-FOURTH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION BILL, 2001
proposes to insert the following subsections after subsection 6o of section 4 of
Article 29 of the Constitution:
“7˚ The State may ratify the Treaty of Nice amending the Treaty on
European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities
and certain related Acts signed at Nice on the 26th day of February,
2001.
8˚ The State may exercise the options or discretions provided by or under
Articles 1.6, 1.9, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13 and 2.1 of the Treaty referred to in
subsection 7˚ of this section but any such exercise shall be subject to the
prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas.”.’
