Crotty v. An Taoiseach was a legal action taken in 1987 by Raymond Crotty, historian and social scientist, against the Irish Government. The case directly led to the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland and established that significant changes to European Union treaties required an amendment to the Irish constitution (always done by means of a referendum) before they could be ratified by the state.
While the action taken by Crotty was made on a number of grounds, the only grounds on which the appeal was allowed by the Supreme Court were those relating to cooperation in the field of foreign policy. In particular, it was the opinion of the Court that all other aspects of the treaty were consistent with the Constitution, including the expansion of Qualified Majority Voting to new policy areas, and the creation of the European Court of First Instance.
The judgements were divided into two sections. The first consisted of a single judgement of the court which upheld the constitutionality of the European Communities (Amendment) Act, 1986. The constitution requires the court to give only a single judgement on the constitutionality of acts of parliament. The second part consisted of separate judgements on the constitutionality of ratifying the foreign policy provisions of the Single European Act. In this section Justices Walsh, Henchy and Hederman formed the majority of the court and ruled that the SEA could not be ratified by the state without a reference to the people. They argued that the state's power to determine its foreign relations was held in trust from the people and could not be alienated by the government. Chief Justice Finlay and Justice Griffin dissented.
External links
- Raymond Crotty v An Taoiseach and Others [1987] IESC 4 (1987-04-09)
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