Bill No. 6 , in the name of the Dean of Ferns and Canon W.D. Sinnamon, aims to tidy up an inconsistency in the Constitution as it pertains to St Patrick's Cathedral Dublin, seeking to restrict appointments of ecumenical canons to those resident on the island of Ireland.

In 2007, the General Synod enacted legislation amending Chapter VII of the Constitution so as to provide for the appointment of ecumenical canons to the Chapter of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

Each ecumenical canon must be a minister or accredited preacher of another Christian denomination which is specified by the House of Bishops and which is not in full communion with the Church of Ireland.

Section 24 of Chapter VII currently provides that prebendal stalls assigned to the patronage of dioceses or united dioceses shall be held only by clergy entitled to sit in the synods of those diocese or united diocese and that all other prebendal stalls shall be held only by Church of Ireland clergy resident in Ireland.

Accordingly prebendal stalls may not be assigned to ecumenical canons.  Furthermore, there is currently no requirement that the ecumenical canons would themselves be resident in Ireland.

This Bill seeks to amend Section 24 of Chapter VII to provide for the assignment of prebendal stalls to ecumenical canons but requires that such ecumenical canons be resident in Ireland.

The Bill passed its second reading and is now clear for its third reading on Sunday.