Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968
# Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968 was a bill (no. 6 of 1968) to amend the Constitution of Ireland to alter the electoral system from proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) to first-past-the-post (FPTP). The proposal was rejected in a referendum held on 16 October 1968.

## Proposed change

The subject matter of the referendum was described as follows:

   * To substitute for the present system of voting at Dáil elections the "straight vote" system in single-member constituencies;

   * To establish a Commission to determine constituencies, subject to the right of the Dáil to amend the constituencies as so determined; and

   * To provide that whenever the Dáil is dissolved the outgoing Ceann Comhairle may be returned, without a contest, as a second deputy for a constituency chosen by him which consists of, or includes a part of, the constituency he represented before the dissolution.

## Background

Elections to Dáil Éireann, the house of representative in the Oireachtas, are governed by Article 16 of the Constitution.

In 1959, the Fianna Fáil government of Éamon de Valera put the Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill to a referendum, which proposed to replace the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) with first-past-the-post (FPTP). The referendum was defeated by 51.8% to 48.8%, on the same day on which de Valera had won the presidential election.

In 1968, the Fianna Fáil government of Jack Lynch proposed two constitutional amendments on the electoral system for election to Dáil Éireann: the Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill, which would have allowed for greater divergence in the ratio of population to constituencies, and the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, a second proposal to introduce FPTP voting in single-member constituencies.

## Oireachtas debate

The Amendment was proposed in the Dáil by Taoiseach Jack Lynch on 21 February 1968. The Amendment was opposed by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. On 3 July, it passed final stages in the Dáil by 66 votes to 56. On 30 July 1968, it passed final stages in the Seanad by 25 votes to 18. Referendums on both the Third Amendment Bill and the Fourth Amendment Bill were held on 16 October 1968.

## Result

The Fourth Amendment bill was rejected by 60.8% against to 39.2% in favour; the Third Amendment, on the population ratio in constituencies, was rejected by a similar margin.

Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill 1968 :

| Choice | Votes | % |
| - | - | - |
| No | 657,898 | 60.84 |
| Yes | 423,496 | 39.16 |
| Valid votes | 1,081,394 | 95.73 |
| Invalid or blank votes | 48,212 | 4.27 |
| Total votes | 1,129,606 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,717,389 | 65.77 |

Results by constituency :

| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Votes | Votes | Proportion of votes | Proportion of votes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Carlow–Kilkenny | 58,039 | 71.4% | 15,253 | 23,174 | 39.7% | 60.3% |
| Cavan | 33,996 | 70.7% | 9,710 | 13,318 | 42.2% | 57.8% |
| Clare | 48,008 | 62.6% | 14,193 | 14,131 | 50.1% | 49.9% |
| Cork Borough | 59,607 | 66.3% | 14,784 | 23,448 | 38.7% | 61.3% |
| Cork Mid | 51,423 | 72.2% | 14,337 | 21,440 | 40.1% | 59.9% |
| Cork North-East | 59,515 | 70.9% | 16,784 | 23,659 | 41.5% | 58.5% |
| Cork South-West | 34,625 | 69.9% | 8,691 | 14,281 | 37.8% | 62.2% |
| Donegal North-East | 34,698 | 66.7% | 11,414 | 10,701 | 51.6% | 48.4% |
| Donegal South-West | 35,596 | 62.2% | 10,692 | 10,397 | 50.7% | 49.3% |
| Dublin County | 77,837 | 63.3% | 15,820 | 31,999 | 33.1% | 66.9% |
| Dublin North-Central | 37,771 | 57.9% | 5,877 | 15,187 | 27.9% | 72.1% |
| Dublin North-East | 80,453 | 65.9% | 16,147 | 36,010 | 31.0% | 69.0% |
| Dublin North-West | 41,984 | 61.1% | 7,467 | 17,633 | 29.7% | 70.3% |
| Dublin South-Central | 52,371 | 57.6% | 8,449 | 20,790 | 28.9% | 71.1% |
| Dublin South-East | 41,190 | 63.9% | 7,726 | 18,044 | 30.0% | 70.0% |
| Dublin South-West | 57,590 | 59.6% | 9,667 | 23,780 | 28.9% | 71.1% |
| Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown | 62,723 | 63.4% | 11,875 | 27,135 | 30.4% | 69.6% |
| Galway East | 53,105 | 62.6% | 14,713 | 16,708 | 46.8% | 53.2% |
| Galway West | 33,722 | 52.7% | 8,606 | 8,574 | 50.1% | 49.9% |
| Kerry North | 34,785 | 64.1% | 9,246 | 11,887 | 43.8% | 56.2% |
| Kerry South | 35,323 | 66.1% | 10,698 | 11,605 | 48.0% | 52.0% |
| Kildare | 46,099 | 66.9% | 11,560 | 17,883 | 39.3% | 60.7% |
| Laois–Offaly | 55,879 | 66.9% | 14,128 | 21,433 | 39.7% | 60.3% |
| Limerick East | 46,883 | 67.3% | 11,190 | 18,793 | 37.3% | 62.7% |
| Limerick West | 33,546 | 72.4% | 11,272 | 11,908 | 48.6% | 51.4% |
| Longford–Westmeath | 43,795 | 67.8% | 10,674 | 17,414 | 38.0% | 62.0% |
| Louth | 37,781 | 66.9% | 9,785 | 14,453 | 40.4% | 59.6% |
| Mayo North | 30,802 | 53.8% | 7,167 | 8,556 | 45.6% | 54.4% |
| Mayo South | 41,324 | 62.2% | 10,513 | 14,025 | 42.8% | 57.2% |
| Meath | 36,192 | 68.5% | 9,500 | 14,084 | 40.3% | 59.7% |
| Monaghan | 32,580 | 69.8% | 8,645 | 12,925 | 40.1% | 59.9% |
| Roscommon | 42,971 | 69.2% | 11,635 | 16,299 | 41.7% | 58.3% |
| Sligo–Leitrim | 42,362 | 65.8% | 11,034 | 15,097 | 42.2% | 57.8% |
| Tipperary North | 34,076 | 71.0% | 9,600 | 13,217 | 42.1% | 57.9% |
| Tipperary South | 46,045 | 74.0% | 14,749 | 17,712 | 45.4% | 54.6% |
| Waterford | 37,519 | 69.8% | 10,353 | 14,555 | 41.6% | 58.4% |
| Wexford | 48,050 | 69.6% | 11,411 | 20,588 | 35.7% | 64.3% |
| Wicklow | 37,124 | 65.3% | 8,131 | 15,055 | 35.1% | 64.9% |
| Total | 1,717,389 | 65.8% | 423,496 | 657,898 | 39.2% | 60.8% |
