Voters will be asked whether they approve of the proposal to amend the Constitution in the 26th Amendment of the Constitution Bill (2002). The Bill would amend the Constitution by inserting the following subsections after subsection 6 of section 4 of Article 29:
"7. The State may ratify the Treaty of Nice amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related Acts signed at Nice on the 26th day of February, 2001.
8. The State may exercise the options or discretions provided by or under Articles 1.6, 1.9, 1.11,1.12,1.13, and 2.1 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 7. of this section but any such exercise shall be subject to the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas.
9. The State shall not adopt a decision taken by the European Council to establish a common defence pursuant to Article 1.2 of the Treaty referred to in subsection 7. of this section where that common defence would include the State."
Subsection 7 provides for the ratification of the Treaty of Nice; Subsection 8 approves the enhanced co-operation provisions of the treaty; Subsection 9, which was not part of the last Nice referendum, means that Ireland could not join an EU mutual defence arrangement without a further referendum.