Adrian Kavanagh, 12th September 2013
After 4th October, there will have been thirty seven different referendum contests held in the history of the state, but some of these contests have taken place on the same date, while the same issue has been the focus of a referendum vote on more than one occasion in a number of instances. The most recent cases include the holding of two referendum votes on the Nice and Lisbon treaties, but the issues of Divorce and the Electoral System (proposals to change the Irish system to a first past the post one) have also been the focus of referendum contests on two, or more, occasions. In most of these cases, the failure of a referendum proposal relating to a certain issue has been followed by the passing of another, ultimately similar, proposal on that issue in a referendum vote – in some cases taking place little more than a year after the initial vote (the Nice Treaty and Lisbon Treaty referenda) but in other cases taking place roughly a decade later (the referenda on the introduction of Divorce and the proposal to change the electoral system). The 1968 referendum is the only case where the re-running of a referendum vote on an issue has resulted in the defeat of that proposal on a second occasion. Continue reading
Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses 