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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Dec 1926

Vol. 17 No. 7

ADDITIONAL ESTIMATE. - CONSTITUTION (AMENDMENT No. 4) BILL, 1926—THIRD STAGE.

The Dáil went into Committee.
SECTION 1.
The Constitution shall be and is hereby amended by the deletion from Article 28 thereof of the words "four years" and the insertion in that Article of the words "five years" in lieu of the said words so deleted.

I move:—

In line 19 to delete the words "five years" and substitute in inverted commas the words "six years or such shorter period as may be fixed by legislation."

I move this amendment because, while it is thought that the normal lifespan of Parliament should be five years, and while the intention is to fix it at five years in the Electoral Act, as Deputy Johnson and others pointed out on the Second Reading of this Bill, circumstances might arise which would make it desirable to prolong the lifetime of Parliament. In such a set of circumstances it would be more easy to amend the ordinary law of the country than to proceed by way of amendment of the Constitution. For that reason, I ask the Dáil to agree that the constitutional maximum should be fixed not at five years, which, in our view, ought to be the normal period of the life of Parliament, but at the longer period of six years, on the understanding that five years is what will be fixed by law.

I should like to know from the Minister how we stand exactly. If this amendment be passed, does it mean that the future life of the Dáil will be six years, unless legislation to the contrary is incorporated in the electoral laws. Having passed this amendment, how shall we stand with regard to the future duration of the Dáil?

Having passed this amendment, the constitutional maximum for the lifetime of a given Parliament will be six years. It would be open, by ordinary legislation, to impose any lesser limit that would commend itself to the Dáil. As a Government, we would pledge ourselves to introduce legislation fixing the lifetime of Parliament at five years.

Amendment put and agreed to.
Section 1, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Section 2 agreed to.
Title—"An Act to amend the Constitution by extending the maximum duration of Dáil Eireann from four years to five years."

The title would now require consequential amendment. I move:—

"To delete the word 'five' in line 2 of the Title and to substitute therefor the word 'six.' "

Amendment agreed to.
Title, as amended, agreed to.
The Dáil went out of Committee.
Bill reported with two amendments.
Fourth Stage fixed for Tuesday, 14th December.
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