49 of 1996) is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which provides that a court can refuse bail to a suspect where it feared that while at liberty they would commit a serious criminal offence.

In People (AG) v O'Callaghan (1966), the Supreme Court had ruled that the provisions of Article 40.4, which guarantees personal liberty and the principle of habeas corpus, meant that an individual charged with a crime could only be refused bail if they were likely to flee or to interfere with witnesses or evidence.

In a 1976 Dáil debate on "the breakdown in law and order", Paddy Cooney, the Minister for Justice in the Fine Gael–Labour coalition, said the government favoured a referendum on reducing the right to bail.

[1] A Law Reform Commission report published in August 1995 and chaired by former Supreme Court judge Anthony Hederman considered legal approaches to bail.

[5] It was supported by the two major opposition parties, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, and passed final stages in the Dáil on the same day.