Third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill, 1968

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The Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1968 was a proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland to alter the electoral system. The proposal was rejected.

Contents 1 Proposed changes to the text 2 Overview 3 Result 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Proposed changes to the text

The subject matter of the referendum was described as follows:

The Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1968, proposes –

that in forming Dáil constituencies, the population per deputy in any case may not be greater or less than the national average by more than one-sixth and that regard must be had to the extent and accessibility of constituencies, the need for having convenient areas of representation and the desirability of avoiding the over-lapping of county boundaries.

[edit] Overview

It proposed to specify more precisely the system of apportionment in the drawing of constituency boundaries. It would have permitted rural constituencies to elect a disproportionate number of TDs (see malapportionment). The proposal was put to a referendum on 16 October 1968 but was rejected. It was introduced by the Fianna Fáil government of Jack Lynch but was opposed by Fine Gael, the main opposition party, and by the Labour Party. The Third Amendment, 1968 was rejected by 656,803 (60.8%) against to 424,185 (39.2%) in favour.

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1968 was submitted to a referendum on the same day and was also rejected.

[edit] Result

Electorate	Spoilt votes	Total poll (%)	For (%)	Against (%)
1,717,389	48,489	1,129,477 (65.8)	424,185 (39.2)	656,803 (60.8)

[edit] See also

• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• History of the Republic of Ireland
• Constitutional amendment
• Irish constitutional referendum, 1968

[edit] External links

• Referendum (Amendment) Act, 1968 (Full text at IrishStatuteBook.ie)
• Full text of the Constitution of Ireland (Accurate up to and including the Twenty-seventh Amendment from Department of the Taoiseach)
• The Unabridged Constitution of Ireland (Unofficial variorum edition - accurate only up to Twentieth Amendment)

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