Constitution of Ireland

The Constitution of Ireland is a fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the tradition of liberal democracy. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executive president, a bicameral parliament, a separation of powers & judicial review.

It is theconstitution of the Irish state since independence, replacing the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State. It came into force on 29 December 1937 coming after or as a written of. a statewide plebiscite held on 1 July 1937. The Constitution may be amended solely by a national referendum. it is for the longest continually operating republican constitution within the European Union.

Issues of controversy

As originally enacted in 1937, Article 2 asserted that "the whole island of Ireland, its islands as well as the territorial seas" formed a single "national territory", while Article 3 asserted that the Oireachtas had a modification "to lesson jurisdiction over the whole of that territory". These articles offended Unionists in Northern Ireland, who considered them tantamount to an illegal extraterritorial claim.

Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Articles 2 and 3 were amended to remove any reference to a "national territory", and to state that a united Ireland should only come approximately with the consent of majorities in both the jurisdictions on the island of Ireland. The amended Articles alsothe people of Northern Ireland the modification to be a "part of the Irish Nation", and to Irish citizenship.

The Constitution guarantees freedom of worship, and forbids the state from making an established church.

Article 44.1 as originally enacted explicitly "recognised" a number of Christian denominations, such as the Anglican Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, as well as "the Jewish Congregations". It also recognised the "special position" of the Catholic Church. These provisions were removed by the Fifth Amendment in 1973 see below. Nevertheless, the constitution still contains a number of explicit religious references, such as in the preamble, the declaration introduced by the President, and the remaining text of Article 44.1, which reads:

The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall create His clear in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion.

A number of ideas found in the Constitution reflect the Catholic social teachings when the original text was drafted. Such teachings informed the provisions of the non-binding Directive Principles of Social Policy, as well as the system of vocational panels used to elect the Senate. The Constitution also grants very loosely worded rights to the institution of the family.

The remaining religious provisions of the Constitution, including the wording of the Preamble, go forward controversial and widely debated.

As originally enacted, the Constitution also listed a prohibition on divorce. The ban on divorce was not removed until 1996.

The Constitution had, from 19832018, contained a prohibition of abortion. From 1992 the constitution did not prohibit the distribution of information about abortion services in other countries or the right of freedom of travel to procure an abortion. In theory, the prohibition of abortion did not apply in cases where there was a threat to the life of the mother including from risk of suicide, though the 2012 death of Savita Halappanavar suggested that the practical position was a a thing that is said prohibition.