BOOK: Carolan on the Constitution of Ireland

I'm very pleased to note the publication of Eoin Carolan (ed), The Constitution of Ireland:Perspectives and Prospects (2012). It

brings together a range of Irish and international commentators to examine some of the most significant current issues in Irish constitutional law.

Based on a selection of the papers originally presented at a conference to mark the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the current Constitution of Ireland, the collection touches on many of the challenges facing Ireland today. These include: the possibilities for political and constitutional reform; the state of Ireland’s democratic structures; national sovereignty in an era of international organisations; the role and conduct of referenda; questions of national identity and values; the meaning of modern Irish republicanism; and the place of religion in Irish society and government. The contributors describe how the Constitution has influenced developments in Ireland since 1937 and consider how it might continue to do so in the future. At a time when Ireland’s political and constitutional structures are under review, The Constitution of Ireland: Perspectives and Prospects provides expert insight into these important questions.

The contents include:

Introduction: The Hon Mrs Justice Susan Denham, Chief Justice - Some thoughts on the Constitution of Ireland at 75;

Part I Constitutional Values:

• Philip Pettit - The Republican Constitution;
• Mark Tushnet - National Identity as a Constitutional Issue: The Case of the Preamble to the Irish Constitution of 1937;
• Ronan McCrea - Rhetoric, Choices and the Constitution;
• Amihai Radzyner - The Irish Influence on the Israeli Constitution Proposal, 1948;
• Eoin Daly - Public Philosophy and Constitutional Interpretation after Natural Law: Republican Horizons;
• Declan O’Keeffe - God, the Natural Law and the 1937 Constitution;
• Maria Cahill - Judicial Conceptions of Sovereignty;

Part II Democracy, Politics and the Constitution:

• Conor O’Mahony - Constitutional Amendment and Judicial Restraint: How Restrained Should an Irish Court Be?;
• Paul Gallagher - The Limits of Constitutionalism;
• David Kenny - The Separation of Powers and Remedies: The Legislative Power and Remedies for Unconstitutional Legislation in Comparative Perspective;
• Jim O’Callaghan - Seanad Éireann – An Opportunity for Real Political Reform;
• Bláthna Ruane - The Doherty Case and Issues Regarding the Provision of Information and Funding for Constitutional Referenda;
• Gaetano Marzulli - Direct Democracy by Judges? The Irish Constitution and the Approach of the Courts to the Referendum as a Model in Comparative Perspective;
• Marie-Luce Paris - Popular Sovereignty and the Use of the Referendum – Comparative Perspectives with Reference to France;

Part III Structural Challenges:

• Niamh Cleary - Constitutional Principles and Restitution of Unlawfully Exacted Tax;
• Aileen Kavanagh - Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments from Irish Free State to Irish Republic;
• Fergal Davis and Christopher Thornhill - Article 28.3.3: Terrorism, Democracy, Supra-Legality and the ‘State of Emergency’ in the Irish Constitution;
• Alan Greene - Declaring a State of Emergency Under Article 28.3.3 of the Irish Constitution: A Purely Political Question?;
• David Fennelly - Crotty’s Long Shadow: the European Union, the United Nations and the Changing Framework of Ireland’s International Relations;

Part IV Constitutional Reform?:

• Fergus Ryan - Are Two Irish Mammies (even) Better than One? Heteronormativity, Homosexuality and the 1937 Constitution;
• Séamus Ó Tuama - Prospects for Constitutional Democracy in Ireland;
• Jane Suiter - A Constitutional Moment: Taking Advantage of a Confluence of Events;
• John O’Dowd - The Constitutional Convention: A Comment.