The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1995 (previously bill no. 15 of 1995) is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which removed the constitutional prohibition on divorce, and allowed for the dissolution of a marriage provided specified conditions were satisfied. It was approved by referendum on 24 November 1995 and signed into law on 17 June 1996. Background The Constitution of Ireland adopted in 1937 included a constitutional ban on divorce. A previous bill to amend this provision proposed by the Fine Gael–Labour Party government of Garret FitzGerald, the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1986, was rejected in a referendum by 63.5% to 36.5%. In the intervening years, the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989 allowed for legal separation to be recognised by a court. The government made other legislative changes to address the issues identified in that referendum campaign, including the social welfare and pension rights of divorced spouses, which were copper fastened, and the abolition of the status of illegitimacy to remove any distinction between the rights of the children of first and subsequent unions. Shortly before its collapse, the 1989–92 government published a white paper on marriage breakdown, which proposed "to have a referendum on divorce after a full debate on the complex issues involved and following the enactment of other legislative proposals in the area of family law". In 1995, the Fine Gael–Labour Party–Democratic Left government of John Bruton proposed a new amendment to allow for divorce in specified circumstances. Changes to the text The Fifteenth Amendment deleted the following Article 41.3.2º of the Constitution: and substituted that subsection with the following: Oireachtas Debate The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution (No. 2) Bill 1995 was proposed in the Dáil on 27 October 1995 by Minister for Equality and Law Reform Mervyn Taylor. An amendment was proposed by Helen Keogh on behalf of the Progressive Democrats which would have allowed for legislation generally, without the restrictions proposed in the government's proposal: This amendment was rejected and the Bill passed final stages by the Dáil without division on 11 October. It was passed by the Seanad on 18 October and proceed to a referendum on 24 November 1995. Campaign The Catholic Church was strongly against the amendment, but stated that Catholics could vote for the amendment in good conscience, and that it would not be a sin to do so. Justin Barrett was