40 of 1941) is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland that was in the form of omnibus legislation affecting a variety of articles on a range of subject matters.
[n 1] The intention was that teething troubles and inconveniences which early experience of the new constitution might uncover could be fixed conveniently without the expense of a referendum.
[n 2] In January 1938, the Department of the Taoiseach established a file for proposed amendments, with a view to enacting a single omnibus bill prior to the expiry of the three-year transition period on 25 June 1941.
However, the provision that was added by Article 26 applies only for presidential references of bills, and the Supreme Court may still issue dissenting opinions in all other circumstances.
[n 3][9] The Clerk of the Dáil, Department of Finance, and Gaeltacht Services section of the Department of Lands had supplied long lists of proposed changes to the Irish text, for clarity or to make the grammar, spelling, and technical vocabulary more consistent within the document and with earlier acts of the Free State Oireachtas.
[10] Maurice Moynihan and the Oireachtas translation section rejected almost all of these, adopting the conservative policy of making changes only where a clear inconsistency needed to be resolved.
[n 4][14] Altered Article 12.3.3°, which provides that in the event of the death, resignation or permanent incapacity of the president, a presidential election must occur within 60 days.
Introduced minor changes to Article 25, altering the precise procedure to be used in the signing, promulgation and enrolment of acts of the Oireachtas.
The change was unusual because by 1941, most of the transitory provisions, including Article 56, had been removed from all official published texts of the constitution.