Editing Constitution of Ireland (section)

==Background==
The Constitution of Ireland replaced the [[Constitution of the Irish Free State]], which had been in effect since the independence, as a [[dominion]], of the Irish state from the [[United Kingdom]] on 6 December 1922.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Forde |first1=Michael |last2=Leonard |first2=David |title=Constitutional Law of Ireland |date=1 July 2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Professional |location=Dublin |isbn=9781847667380 |pages=Paras. 1.05-1.08 |edition=3rd}}</ref> There were two main motivations for replacing the constitution in 1937. Firstly, the [[Statute of Westminster 1931]] granted parliamentary autonomy to the six British Dominions (now known as [[Commonwealth realms]]) within a [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth of Nations]]. This had the effect of making the dominions sovereign nations in their own right. The Irish Free State constitution of 1922 was, in the eyes of many, associated with the controversial [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]]. The anti-treaty faction, who opposed the treaty initially by force of arms, was so opposed to the institutions of the new Irish Free State that it initially took an [[abstentionism|abstentionist]] line toward them, boycotting them altogether. However, the largest element of this faction became convinced that abstentionism could not be maintained forever. This element, led by [[Éamon de Valera]], formed the [[Fianna Fáil]] party in 1926, which entered into government following the [[1932 Irish general election|1932 general election]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/features/devalera.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040208005923/http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/features/devalera.shtml|url-status=dead|title=Notable New Yorkers&nbsp;– Éamon de Valera|archive-date=8 February 2004}}</ref><ref>''[[The Times]]'', Irish Republican Split. Search For Basis of Cooperation 13 March 1926</ref>

After 1932, under the provisions of the Statute of Westminster, some of the articles of the original Constitution which were required by the Anglo-Irish Treaty were dismantled by acts of the [[Oireachtas of the Irish Free State]]. Such amendments removed references to the [[Oath of Allegiance (Ireland)|Oath of Allegiance]], appeals to the United Kingdom's [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]], the [[British Crown]] and the [[Governor-General of the Irish Free State|Governor-General]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Forde |first1=Michael |last2=Leonard |first2=David |title=Constitutional Law of Ireland |date=1 July 2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Professional |location=Dublin |isbn=9781847667380 |pages=Paras. 1.05-1.07 |edition=3rd}}</ref> The sudden abdication of [[Edward VIII]] in December 1936 was quickly used to redefine the Royal connection.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1936121200004 |work=[[Dáil Éireann]] debates Volume 64 |date=12 December 1936 |title=Executive Authority (External Relations) Bill, 1936 – Committee Stage |publisher=[[Oireachtas]] |access-date=6 December 2017 |archive-date=7 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207084912/http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1936121200004 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, the Fianna Fáil government still desired to replace the constitutional document they saw as having been imposed by the British government in 1922.

The second motive for replacing the original constitution was primarily symbolic. De Valera wanted to put an Irish stamp on the institutions of government, and chose to do this in particular through the use of [[Irish (language)|Irish language]] nomenclature.<ref name="irishtimes.com">{{cite news |last1=Ferriter |first1=Diarmuid |title=Irish Constitution stands the test of time |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/diarmaid-ferriter-irish-constitution-stands-the-test-of-time-1.3146769 |access-date=28 December 2023 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=8 July 2017 |language=en}}</ref>

===Drafting process===
De Valera personally supervised the writing of the Constitution.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Forde |first1=Michael |last2=Leonard |first2=David |title=Constitutional Law of Ireland |date=1 July 2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Professional |location=Dublin |isbn=9781847667380 |pages=Paras. 1.08-1.09 |edition=3rd}}</ref> It was drafted initially by [[John Hearne (lawyer)|John Hearne]], legal adviser to the [[Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade(Ireland)|Department of External Affairs]] (now called the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kane |first1=Conor |title=Tributes paid to 'real architect' of 1937 Constitution |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/tributes-paid-to-real-architect-of-1937-constitution-1.3139687 |access-date=28 December 2023 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=30 June 2017}}</ref> It was translated into [[Irish language|Irish]] over a number of drafts by a group headed by Micheál Ó Gríobhtha (assisted by Risteárd Ó Foghludha), who worked in the Irish Department of Education. De Valera served as his own External Affairs Minister, hence the use of the Department's Legal Advisor, with whom he had previously worked closely, as opposed to the Attorney General or someone from the Department of the President of the Executive Council.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cahillane |first1=Laura |title=The Irish Constitution has served us well for the most part |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/the-constitution-has-served-us-well-for-the-most-part-3702649-Nov2017/ |access-date=28 December 2023 |work=TheJournal.ie |date=18 November 2017 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Maxwell |first1=Nick |title=Bunreacht na hÉireann: a study of the Irish text, Micheál Ó Cearúil. (Coiste Uile-Pháirtí an Oireachtais ar an mBunreacht/The All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, £15). ISBN 0707664004 |url=https://www.historyireland.com/bunreacht-na-heireann-a-study-of-the-irish-text-micheal-o-cearuil-coiste-uile-phairti-an-oireachtais-ar-an-mbunreachtthe-all-party-oireachtas-committee-on-the-constitution-15-isbn-0707664004/ |website=History Ireland |access-date=28 December 2023 |date=8 February 2013}}</ref> He also received significant input from [[John Charles McQuaid]], the then President of [[Blackrock College]], on religious, educational, family and social welfare issues.<ref name="irishtimes.com"/> McQuaid later became, in 1940, the Catholic [[Archbishop of Dublin (Roman Catholic)|Archbishop of Dublin]]. Other religious leaders who were consulted were Archbishop [[Edward Joseph Byrne|Edward Byrne]] (Roman Catholic), Archbishop [[John Gregg (Archbishop of Armagh)|John Gregg]] (Church of Ireland), William Massey (Methodist) and [[James Alexander Hamilton Irwin|James Irwin]] (Presbyterian).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hogan |first1=Gerard |title=Origins of the Irish Constitution 1928-41 |date=2012 |publisher=Royal Irish Academy |location=Dublin |isbn=9781904890751 |page=215}}</ref>

There are a number of instances where the texts in English and Irish clash, a potential dilemma which the Constitution resolves by favouring the Irish text even though English is more commonly used in the official sphere.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Forde |first1=Michael |last2=Leonard |first2=David |title=Constitutional Law of Ireland |date=1 July 2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Professional |location=Dublin |isbn=9781847667380 |pages=Para. 2.31 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

A draft of the constitution was presented personally to the Vatican for review and comment on two occasions by the Department Head at External Relations, Joseph P. Walsh. Prior to its tabling in [[Dáil Éireann (Irish Free State)|Dáil Éireann]] and presentation to the Irish electorate in a plebiscite, Vatican Secretary of State [[Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli]], the future Pope Pius XII, said of the final amended draft: "We do not approve, neither do we disapprove; We shall maintain silence."<ref>Emmett Larkin, of the University of Chicago in Church, State, and Nation in Modern Ireland, 1975; The Historical Dimensions of Irish Catholicism, 1976; Irish Times 25 November 2006 by Stephen Collins based on Republic of Ireland state papers released under 30-year rule.</ref> The ''quid pro quo'' for this indulgence of the Catholic Church's interests in Ireland was the degree of respectability which it conferred on De Valera's formerly denounced republican faction and its reputation as the 'semi-constitutional' political wing of the 'irregular' anti-treaty forces.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0022/D.0022.192803210025.html |title=Dáil Éireann - Volume 22 - 21 March, 1928 - PRIVATE DEPUTIES' BUSINESS. - REVIEW OF PRISONERS' CASES—PROPOSED SELECT COMMITTEE |access-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404160152/http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0022/D.0022.192803210025.html |archive-date=4 April 2009 }}</ref>

During the Great Depression, as social polarisation generated campaigns and strikes, Catholic social jurists aimed to forestall class conflict. Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and clericalist advisors such as John Charles McQuaid considered constitutional provisions to incorporate land redistribution, credit system regulation, and welfare rights. Late in the drafting process, however, de Valera re-wrote these initially robust socio-economic rights as non-binding 'directive principles', primarily to satisfy the Department of Finance's preferences for minimal state spending. In line with Ireland's banks and grazier farming interests, the final wording thus preserved the state's existing currency and cattle trading relations with the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Murray|first=Thomas|date=2016|title=Socio-Economic Rights and the Making of the 1937 Irish Constitution|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|journal=Irish Political Studies|language=en|volume=31|issue=4|pages=502–524|doi=10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|s2cid=146146322|issn=0790-7184|access-date=4 January 2021|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108053403/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Adoption===
{{main|Adoption of the Constitution of Ireland}}
The text of the draft constitution, with minor amendments, was approved on 14 June 1937 by Dáil Éireann (then the sole house of parliament, the Seanad having been abolished the previous year).<ref name="Constitutional Law of Ireland">{{cite book |last1=Forde |first1=Michael |last2=Leonard |first2=David |title=Constitutional Law of Ireland |date=1 July 2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Professional |location=Dublin |isbn=9781847667380 |pages=Paras. 1.08 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

[[File:Stamp-Ireland 3d 1937 Constitution.jpg|thumb|3d denomination of the Irish Constitution [[postage stamp]] issue]]
The draft constitution was then put to a [[plebiscite]] on 1 July 1937 (the same day as the [[1937 Irish general election|1937 general election]]), when it was passed by a [[Plurality (voting)|plurality]]. 56% of voters were in favour, comprising 38.6% of the whole electorate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/results/general/09dail.cfm|title=9th Dáil 1937 General Election|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=16 April 2009|archive-date=3 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603195000/http://electionsireland.org/results/general/09dail.cfm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gdala.htm|title=Dáil elections since 1918|work=ARK Northern Ireland|access-date=16 April 2009|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127122828/https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gdala.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NS>{{cite book|first1=D. |last1=Nohlen |author-link1=Dieter Nohlen |first2=P |last2=Stöver |date=2010 |title=Elections in Europe: A data handbook |pages=1009–1017 |publisher=Nomos |isbn=978-3-8329-5609-7}}</ref> The constitution came into force on 29 December 1937 and, to mark the occasion, the [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs]] issued two [[commemorative stamp]]s on that date.<ref name="Constitutional Law of Ireland"/>

Among the groups who opposed the constitution were supporters of [[Fine Gael]] and the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]], [[Unionism in Ireland|Unionist]]s, and some independents and feminists. The question put to voters was ''"Do you approve of the Draft Constitution which is the subject of this plebiscite?"''.
{{Referendum
|title      = Plebiscite on the Constitution of Ireland<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.referendum.ie/archive/referendum-on-the-thirty-third-amendment-of-the-constitution-court-of-appeal-bill-2013-12-2/|title= Plebiscite (Draft Constitution) Bill, 1937|website=Referendum Returning Officer}}</ref>
|yes        = 685,105
|yespct     = 56.52
|no         = 526,945
|nopct      = 43.48
|valid      = 1,212,050
|validpct   = 90.03
|invalid    = 134,157
|invalidpct = 9.97
|total      = 1,346,207
|turnoutpct = 75.84
|electorate = 1,775,055
}}

===Response===
When the draft new constitution was published, the ''[[Irish Independent]]'' described it as one of de Valera's "finest tributes to his predecessors".<ref name="Dermot Keogh pg. 237">The Vatican, the Bishops and Irish Politics 1919–39 by Dermot Keogh, pg. 237</ref> ''[[The Irish Times]]'' criticised the constitution's assertion of a territorial claim on Northern Ireland, and the absence in its text of any reference to the British Commonwealth.<ref name="Dermot Keogh pg. 237"/> The London-based ''[[The Daily Telegraph|Daily Telegraph]]'' included in its criticism the special position assigned to the Church of Rome under the new constitution.<ref name="Dermot Keogh pg. 237"/> ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' concluded it would only help to "perpetuate division" between Dublin and Belfast. ''[[The Irish Catholic]]'' concluded it was a "noble document in harmony with papal teachings".<ref name="Dermot Keogh pg. 237"/>

When the new constitution was enacted, the British government, according to ''[[The New York Times]]'', "contented itself with a legalistic protest".<ref>[Ulster's Inclusion Barred by Britain; London Protests Claim That Belfast Eventually Must Be Ruled by Dublin; Little Change Is Seen; Premier of Northern Ireland Attacks Constitution as an 'Affront to His Majesty' – New York Times, 30 December 1937]</ref> Its protest took the form of a communiqué on 30 December 1937, in which the British stated:<ref name="circular">{{cite web |url=http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/webarchives/20061111070400/http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=9449 |title=Circular dated 1 April 1949 from the Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs to Heads of Post Abroad (Circular Document No.B38, 836. DEA/7545‑B‑40) |publisher=Lac-bac.gc.ca |access-date=2018-04-09 |archive-date=10 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110093406/http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/webarchives/20061111070400/http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=9449 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://century.guardian.co.uk/1930-1939/Story/0,,127133,00.html The Manchester Guardian, 30 December 1937 ''Britain accepts new name for the Free State''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723234019/http://century.guardian.co.uk/1930-1939/Story/0,,127133,00.html |date=23 July 2011 }}. Full text of British Government's communiqué cited in Clifford, Angela, ''The Constitutional History of Eire/Ireland'', Athol Books, Belfast, 1985, p. 153.</ref><ref>In May 1938 the British government enacted the [[Eire (Confirmation of Agreements) Act 1938]].</ref>

{{blockquote|His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom has considered the position created by the new Constitution ... of the Irish Free State, in future to be described under the Constitution as 'Eire' or 'Ireland' ... [and] cannot recognise that the adoption of the name 'Eire' or 'Ireland', or any other provision of those articles [of the Irish constitution], involves any right to territory ... forming part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ... They therefore regard the use of the name 'Eire' or 'Ireland' in this connection as relating only to that area which has hitherto been known as the Irish Free State.}}

The other governments of the British Commonwealth countries chose to continue to regard Ireland as a member of the British Commonwealth.<ref name="ReferenceA">I.S.C. (32) 129; Cabinet. Irish Situation Committee. Relations With the Irish Free State. General Constitutional Position. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs The devolved Northern Ireland; December 1937</ref> A proposal by the Northern Ireland government that Northern Ireland be renamed "Ulster" in response to the new Irish constitution was aborted after it was determined that this would require Westminster legislation.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The Irish government received a message of goodwill from 268 United States congressmen, including eight senators. The signatories expressed "their ardent congratulations on the birth of the State of Ireland and the consequent coming into effect of the new constitution", adding that "We regard the adoption of the new constitution and the emergence of the State of Ireland as events of the utmost importance."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2450025?searchTerm=%22Irish+Free+State%22+AND+%28Constitution%29 |title=Irish Free State: American messages of goodwill: Congratulations on New Constitution |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=1938-01-13 |access-date=2018-04-09 |archive-date=22 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922130943/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2450025?searchTerm=%22Irish+Free+State%22+AND+%28Constitution%29 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Feminists such as [[Hannah Sheehy Skeffington]] claimed that certain articles threatened their rights as citizens and as workers. Article 41.2, for example, equated womanhood with motherhood and further specified a woman's 'life within the home'. The Women Graduates' Association, the Joint Committee of Women's Societies and Social Workers, together with the Irish Women Workers' Union mobilised a two-month campaign seeking the provisions' amendment or deletion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Murray|first=Thomas|date=2016|title=Socio-Economic Rights and the Making of the 1937 Irish Constitution|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|journal=Irish Political Studies|language=en|volume=31|issue=4|pages=502–524, p. 518|doi=10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|s2cid=146146322|issn=0790-7184|access-date=4 January 2021|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108053403/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Republican Congress also critiqued the constitution's "stone-age conception of womanhood". Writing in the Irish Democrat, Peadar O'Donnell and Frank Ryan condemned the 1937 Constitution for upholding private property as a sacred, 'natural right' and declaring that capitalism was 'something ordained by Providence forever, amen!' The Congress further opposed the Roman Catholic Church's position as a 'State or semi-State church' in violation of republican principles and an offence to Protestants throughout the island. The 'Roman Catholic Bishops of the South', O'Donnell claimed, now functioned as 'the watchdogs of the private property classes'.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Murray|first=Thomas|date=2016|title=Socio-Economic Rights and the Making of the 1937 Irish Constitution|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|journal=Irish Political Studies|language=en|volume=31|issue=4|pages=502–524, p. 518|doi=10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|s2cid=146146322|issn=0790-7184|access-date=4 January 2021|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108053403/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07907184.2015.1095738|url-status=live}}</ref>