The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was signed by Ireland on 1 October 1973 and ratified on 8 December 1989. Upon ratification, Ireland made reservations to Articles 6(5), 10(2), 14, 19(2), 20(1) and 23(4). The reservation entered to Article 6(5), regarding the death penalty, was withdrawn. On 24 August 1998, Ireland transmitted notification of the withdrawal of the reservation to Article 14(6) and the reservation to Article 23(4) of the Covenant to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The enactment of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1993, which makes legislative provision for compensation of miscarriages of justice, rendered Ireland's reservation to Article 14(6) of the covenant, which provides that such compensation may be made by administrative rather than by legal means, unnecessary. The reservation to Article 23(4), which arose out of the former prohibition on divorce, was withdrawn further to the amendment of Article 41 of the Constitution and the subsequent enactment of the Family Law (Divorce) Act, 1996.