The campaign against the Constitution 

This article was first published in the Tara Foundation Winter magazine of 2007/8. 

Andrew McGrath

The Constitution is the fundamental legal document of the Republic. It defines the nation's territorial claims, the rights and duties of its citizens, and the powers of its elected representatives. However, it has been, and continues to be, the subject of depreciation and derision in political policy and media opinion. However, these same sources confirm its importance through the consistency and intensity of their opposition. The pervasive contempt for the Constitution among politicians has been highlighted on several occasions by this campaign. Brian Cowen TD, in his previous role as Minister for Foreign Affairs, stated that it was the policy of the Irish Government to dispense with the requirement to give written permission for Irish citizens to be 'honoured' by the British State, even though this is expressly required by the Constitution. More recently, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern proposed introducing an honours system in Ireland, in emulation of the system which exists in Britain, a move which is also unconstitutional. The numerous instances of unconstitutional legislation added to the Irish statute books in recent years, not the least of which is the National Monuments Act 2004, is ample testimony to the prevailing state policy.
However, a more urgent momentum seems to be underway. This coincides with the impending referendum on the EU 'Reform Treaty', which is simply the EU Constitution redubbed with a less threatening name. Ireland is to be the only country in the EU to hold a popular mandate on this Treaty, despite, or because of, intense opposition to the document in Europe. All the major political parties have indicated their assent, even before any degree of public consultation or debate has taken place.

It is an interesting fact that Ireland has emulated Britain in demanding certain exemptions from human rights and security arrangements contained within the Treaty. The provisions in question are in fact already contained in existing EU law, but the Treaty will enable the EU to impose punitive measures directly against member states found to be in violation of EU law. This implies that the EU will potentially be able to supersede national law in any respect. The rationale offered by the Government for duplicating Britain's position is a recognition of the supposed fact that Ireland and Britain share a 'common law' system, which is stated to be different from that in the rest of Europe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ireland's 'common law' tradition was carried over from the status quo previous to Independence. Irish law has never been codified, and so this problem has never been properly addressed. However, Article 15 of the Constitution rules out judge-made law, the hallmark of 'common law', stating that the Oireachtas is the only body that can promulgate law. The Irish Constitution, by definition, sets Ireland's legal system apart from that of Britain, which has no written constitution.

The idea seems to be to maintain the notion of Ireland's legislative commonality with Britain until the European Constitution has been ratified, which, incidentally is disgracefully regarded as a foregone conclusion by every political party. There has been a noticeable rise in the level of cultural propaganda on behalf of Britain, in lock-step with cultural denigration of the Irish War of Independence. Remembrance Sunday, in which where British wars, including the war waged against the newly-independent Irish state from 1919-21, are celebrated, was observed in Dublin this year, and attended by the President of Ireland. There has been a campaign in favour of a visit to Ireland by the Queen of England, by the Irish President, and lately also by Mr. Ahern. The media and political theme of closeness between the Republic and Northern Ireland and repeated references to 'Ireland' as somehow encompassing these two different jurisdictions, is cultural propaganda. The aim is ultimately to propose a 'reunification' of Ireland under the legislative control of Britain; in other words, the abolition of the Irish Constitution and the end of the Republic. This has been Britain's policy ever since the end of the War of Independence, and was the rationale behind the division of Ireland into North and South in the 1922 Treaty. It is also an objective that has considerable support among politicians and media in the Republic.

© The Tara Foundation, 2008