Ireland's Evolving Constitution 1937-1997: Collected Essays

To mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland, this important collection of essays includes a wide range of contributions on the most significant aspects of Irish constitutional law and jurisprudence. In addition to political and legal commentators, leading academics in the fields of philosophy, history and political geography assess the history and future of the Constitution from the perspectives of their particular disciplines. The resulting blend of arguments offers a serious and sometimes controversial set of insights into the changing role of the constitution in light of social and political change in Ireland over the past 60 years. The overall result is a detailed contextual analysis of Ireland's basic law aimed at a readership interested in the Irish Constitution and constitutional matters generally. Contributors: Garrett Barden, Dr. Noel Browne, Professor Tony Carty, Bozena Cierlik, Desmond Clarke, Michael Cronin, Dolores Dooley, Garret Fitzgerald, Leo Flynn, Adrian Hunt, Stephen Livingstone, Irene Lynch, Frank Martin, David Gwynn Morgan, Siobhán Mullally, Tim Murphy, John A. Murphy, Dr. Siofra O'Leary, Dr. Paul O'Mahony, Brendan Ryan, Niamh Nic Shuibhne, Patrick Twomey, Anthony Whelan, Gerry Whyte.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Tim Murphy and Patrick Twomey 1. Discovering a Constitution Garrett Barden 2. The 1937 Constitution—Some Historical Reflections John A. Murphy 3. The Irish Constitution in Its Historical Context Garret Fitzgerald 4. Church and State in Modern Ireland Noel Browne 5. Some Reflections on the Role of Religion in the Constitutional Order Gerry Whyte 6. Education, the State and Sectarian Schools Desmond M. Clarke 7. The Family in the Constitution—Principle and Practice Frank Martin 8. The Irish Constitution, International Law and the Northern Question—The Need for Radical Thinking Anthony Carty 9. Judicial Activism—Too Much of a Good Thing David Gwynn Morgan 10. Gendered Citizenship in the Irish Constitution Dolores Dooley 11. To Be an Irish Man—Constructions of Masculinity within the Constitution Leo Flynn 12. Equality Guarantees in Irish Constitutional Law—The Myth of Constitutionalism and the “Neutral State” Siobhán Mullally 13. Economic Inequality and the Constitution Tim Murphy 14. The Constitution and Criminal Justice Paul O’Mahony 15.Freedom of Expression—Talking about the Troubles Patrick Twomey 16. Lawyers and Unions—The Right to Freedom of Association in the Irish Constitution Irene Lynch 17. Information, Justice and Power Brendan Ryan 18. Bunreacht na hEireann and the Polish “April Constitution” Bozena Cierlik 19. The Constitution, the Courts and the Irish Language Niamh Nic Shuibhne 20. This Side of Paradise—The Constitution and the Irish Language Michael Cronin 21. National Sovereignty in the European Union Anthony Whelan 22. The Reciprocal Relationship Between Irish Constitutional Law and the Law of the European Communities Síofra O’Leary 23. Politics Beyond Parties and the Irish Constitution Stephen Livingstone 24. Evaluating Constitutions—The Irish Constitution and the Limits of Constitutionalism Adrian Hunt

About the Author :
Tim Murphy is a Lecturer in Law at University College, Cork. Patrick Twomey is a lecturer in law at the University of Nottingham

Review :
It is an enormous pleasure to welcome this first-class collection of essays on Ireland's fascinating, endlessly controversial, but doggedly durable constitution....The editors of this volume have had the brilliant idea of hanging their collection on the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of Bunreacht na hEireann. Their choice of contributors is particularly to their credit, since it reflects very well the breadth and range of modern Irish constitutional studies. We have essays from an historian.., a comparativist..., and a philosopher.., as well as three stimulating pieces from erstwhile and contemporary practitioners of politics, to remind us that even under a written constitution the government must not become the intellectual property of the lawyers.... So who should read this book? The obvious answer is students of Irish constitutional law. But clearly it will also be immensley valuable to the comparativist, who seeks an intelligent and stimulating rather than a rigidly black-letter introduction to a constitutional system of which he or she desires to know more. …this collection deserves to be purchased by every lawyer with even a passing interest in Irish constitutional law. Many of these essays...are so interesting and well written that they deserve not a short review, but a long monograph by way of response.