Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

2 October 2009 (2009-10-02)
To permit the state to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 1,214,268 67.13% No 594,606 32.87% Valid votes 1,808,874 99.60% Invalid or blank votes 7,224 0.40% Total votes 1,816,098 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 3,078,132 59%
Declared results by constituency 3 October 2009.   Yes   No

The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Act 2009 (previously bill no. 49 of 2009) is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which permitted the state to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union. It was approved by referendum on 2 October 2009 (sometimes known as the second Lisbon referendum).

The amendment was approved by the Irish electorate by 67.1% to 32.9%, on a turnout of 59%.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The amendment's enactment followed the failure of a previous attempt which was rejected in the first Lisbon referendum, held in June 2008. The successful referendum in 2009 represented a swing of 20.5% to the "Yes" side, from the result in 2008.^[1]

Following the referendum, Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament) gave its approval to the Treaty on 8 October 2009.^[6] The President of Ireland Mary McAleese signed the amendment of the constitution into law on 15 October.^[7] These formalities having been conducted, the state ratified the treaty by depositing the instrument of ratification with the Italian government on 23 October. The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009.