October 2004, a European Court of Justice ruling (Case C-200/02) Chen v Home Secretary ruled that the non-EU parent of a child who is a citizen of the Union had a right to reside with that child in the EU. Campaign The Twenty-seventh amendment was introduced by the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats coalition government of Bertie Ahern. It was also supported by Fine Gael (the largest opposition party) but they refused to campaign due to what they complained was insufficient consultation before the poll. The amendment was opposed by the Labour Party, the Green Party, and Sinn Féin, as well as the Irish Human Rights Commission, a statutory body, and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, a civil society non-profit organisation. It was also opposed by Northern Ireland's SDLP, as Irish citizenship is an option for people born there. The government presented the amendment as a common sense proposal that would close a constitutional loop-hole and allow Irish law to be brought into line with the rest of Europe. In 2004, no other nation of the European Union granted citizenship by birth in the same manner as Ireland. Some criticisms of the amendment related merely to the manner in which it was proposed. In the lead-up to the referendum the Irish and British governments issued a joint statement saying that they did not regard the proposed constitutional change as affecting the British-Irish Agreement (this being the inter-governmental component of the Good Friday Agreement). The Democratic Unionist Party cited the amendment as evidence that the Agreement could be changed. The referendum on the amendment was held on the same day as both European and local elections. In the referendum, the amendment was ultimately approved, by a large majority of almost 80% in favour. Result Although most Irish referendums count votes per Dáil constituency, this one was organised by city/county council area, the basis for the local elections being held simultaneously. Voters received different-coloured ballot papers for the referendum, city/county council election, and European Parliament election; all went into the same ballot box and were separated by colour once the boxes arrived at the count centre for the city/county. Not all voters received all ballots as the franchises differ. Aftermath The amendment was signed into law on 24 June 2004, after the referendum result had been certified by the High Court. On 29 September the government published a bill to amend nationality law