Referendum on the Twenty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2002

Polling at the referendum took place on Saturday, 19 October 2002. The subject matter of the referendum was described as follows in the official polling card sent to each elector: “1. THE TWENTY-SIXTH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION BILL, 2002 proposes to insert the following subsections after subsection 6° 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. 9° The State shall not adopt a decision taken by the European Council to establish a common defence pursuant to Article 1.2 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 7° of this section where that common defence would include the State.’.”