Editing Constitution of Ireland (section)

==Issues of controversy==
Writing in [[1968 in Ireland|1968]], ''[[Irish Times]]'' literary editor [[Terence de Vere White]] criticised both the constitution and the existing political system, "At the time of this writing, the Constitution of the Republic is under scrutiny, but it is unlikely that any proposed changes therein will radically alter the system established. A Constitution on [[Constitution of the United States|the United States model]] might well suit [[Irish people|the people]] better than the present one; but the Irish are too innately [[Social Conservatism|Conservative]] ever to bring about such a change except by gradual and almost imperceptible degrees."<ref>Terence de Vere White (1968), ''New Nations and Peoples Library: Ireland'', [[Thames and Hudson]]. Page 83.</ref>

===The "national territory"===
{{Main|Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland|Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland}}
As adopted in 1937, Article 2 asserted that "the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas" formed a single "national territory", while Article 3 asserted that the Oireachtas had a right "to exercise jurisdiction over the whole of that territory". These articles offended some [[Unionist (Ireland)|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 about with the consent of majorities in both the jurisdictions on the island of Ireland. The amended Articles also guarantee the people of Northern Ireland the right to be a "part of the Irish Nation", and to Irish citizenship. This change came into force in December 1999.

===Religion===
{{One source|section|date=April 2022}}
{{See also|Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland}}

The Constitution guarantees freedom of worship, and forbids the state from creating 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Article 44.1 as originally enacted explicitly "recognised" a number of Christian denominations, such as the Anglican [[Church of Ireland]], the [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland]], as well as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 made by the President, and the remaining text of Article 44.1, which reads:

{{blockquote|The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name 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 broadly worded rights to the institution of the family.

The remaining religious provisions of the Constitution, including the wording of the Preamble, remain controversial and widely debated.<ref>[http://www.thehist.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=288&Itemid=719 Minutes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717003523/http://www.thehist.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=288&Itemid=719 |date=17 July 2011 }} & [http://www.thehist.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=154&Itemid=735 Recordings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717003535/http://www.thehist.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=154&Itemid=735 |date=17 July 2011 }} of the [[College Historical Society]] debate on the presence of God in the Constitution, featuring Archbishop [[John Neill (archbishop of Dublin)|John Neill]], [[Patsy McGarry]] and Senator [[Rónán Mullen]].</ref>

As originally enacted, the Constitution also included a prohibition on divorce. The ban on divorce was not removed until 1996.
*Incorporating Catholic social teaching into law was common to many predominantly Catholic countries in the 1930s. Divorce, for example, was banned in other states such as Italy, which repealed its ban in the 1970s.
*The reference to the Catholic Church's special position was of no legal effect and there was significance in the fact that the "special position" of Catholicism was held to derive merely from its greater number of adherents. Notably, Éamon De Valera resisted pressure from right-wing Catholic groups such as [[Maria Duce]] to make Catholicism an established church or to declare it the "one true religion".
*The prohibition on divorce was supported by senior members of the Protestant ([[Anglican]]) [[Church of Ireland]].
*The Constitution's explicit recognition of the Jewish community was progressive in the climate of the 1930s.

===Abortion===
{{See also|Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland}}
The Constitution had, from [[Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|1983]] to [[Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|2018]], 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 to cases in which 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 total prohibition.

Article 40.3.3° was inserted into the Constitution in 1983 by the [[Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland]]. The Eighth Amendment recognised "the unborn" as having a right to life equal to that of "the mother".<ref>de Londras & Enright, Repealing the 8th: Reforming Abortion Law in Ireland (2018)</ref> Accordingly, abortions could be legally conducted in Ireland only as part of a medical intervention performed to save the life of the pregnant woman, including a pregnant woman at risk of suicide.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/irish-president-passes-abortion-law-29459951.html |title=Irish president passes abortion law |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=2013-07-30 |access-date=2015-05-19 |archive-date=26 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126100132/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/irish-president-passes-abortion-law-29459951.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On 25 May 2018, a referendum was held asking whether the Eighth Amendment should be repealed. A majority voted to repeal, and the Eighth Amendment was subsequently repealed on 18 September 2018 via the passage of the [[Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|Thirty-sixth Amendment]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0918/994438-cabinet/|title=Eighth Amendment repealed after bill is signed into law|last=Fitzgerald|first=Martina|date=18 September 2018|publisher=RTÉ News|access-date=18 September 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918044748/https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0918/994438-cabinet/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Status of women===
The Constitution guarantees women the right to vote and to nationality and citizenship on an equal basis with men. It also contains a provision, Article 41.2, which states:

{{blockquote|1° [...] the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.
<br>
2° The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.}}

A proposed amendment to this article (the [[2024 Irish constitutional referendums|Fortieth Amendment]]) was defeated in a referendum in March 2024.

===Head of state===
{{Main|Irish head of state from 1922 to 1949}}
In 1949 the Irish state abandoned its few remaining constitutional ties with the British monarchy, and it was declared by an Act of the Oireachtas that the term "Republic of Ireland" could be used as a "description" for the Irish state. However, there is debate as to whether or not the state was a republic in the period 1937–1949; between these dates the state was not described in any law as a republic. The current text of the Constitution does not mention the word "republic", but does for example assert that all power is derived, "under God, from the people" (Article 6.1).

Debate largely focuses on the question of whether, before 1949, the head of state was the [[President of Ireland]] or King [[George VI]]. The Constitution did not directly refer to the King, but also did not (and still does not) state that the President was head of state. The President exercised most of the usual internal functions of a head of state, such as formally appointing the Government, and promulgating laws.

In 1936, before the enactment of the existing Constitution, George VI had been declared "By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India" and, under the [[Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936|External Relations Act]] of the same year, it was this King who formally represented the state in its foreign affairs. Treaties, for example, were signed in the name of the King, who also accredited ambassadors and received the letters of credence of foreign diplomats. Representing a state abroad is seen by many scholars as the key characteristic of a head of state. This role meant, in any case, that George VI was the Head of State in the eyes of foreign nations.<ref>'Treaty-Making Procedure in the British Dominions' by Robert B. Stewart; The American Journal of International Law; Vol. 32, No. 3 (Jul., 1938), pp. 467–487 (pg. 480): Cambridge University Press</ref>

Section 3(1) of the Act stipulated that:

{{blockquote|so long as Saorstát Éireann [i.e. the Irish Free State] is associated with the following nations, that is to say, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and South Africa [i.e. the dominions then within the Commonwealth], and so long as the King recognised by those nations as the symbol of their co-operation continues to act on behalf of each of those nations (on the advice of the several Governments thereof) for the purposes of the appointment of diplomatic and consular representatives and the conclusion of international agreements, the King so recognised may, and is hereby authorised to, act on behalf of Saorstát Éireann for the like purposes as and when advised by the Executive Council so to do."}}

However, the removal of the king's constitutional position within Ireland was brought about in 1948 not by any change to the Constitution but by ordinary law ([[The Republic of Ireland Act 1948]]). Since the Irish state was unambiguously a republic after 1949 (when the 1948 Act came into operation) and the same Constitution was in force prior to that time, some have argued that the Irish state was in reality a republic from the Constitution's enactment in 1937.

===Name of the state===
{{Main|Names of the Irish state}}

The constitution begins with words "''We, the people of Éire''". It then declares, in Article 4, that the name of the state is "''Éire'', or, in the English language, ''Ireland''". The text of the draft constitution as originally introduced into the Dáil had simply stated that the state was to be called ''Éire'', and that term was used throughout the text of the draft constitution. However, the English text of the draft constitution was amended during the parliamentary debates to replace "Éire" with "Ireland".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1937052500014 |work=[[Dáil Éireann]] debates Volume 67 |date=25 May 1937 |title=Bunreacht na hÉireann (Dréacht)—Coiste |publisher=[[Oireachtas]] |access-date=6 December 2017 |archive-date=7 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207084857/http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1937052500014 |url-status=live }}</ref> (The only exceptions were the preamble, in which "Éire" is used alone, and Article 4, which was amended so as to refer to both "Éire" and the alternative English language name of "Ireland".) The name of the state was the subject of a long dispute between the British and Irish governments, which has since been resolved.<ref>Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office, Lord Dubs, House of Lords Debates volume 593 Column 1188 ([https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo981019/text/81019-07.htm 19 Oct 1998] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010080441/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo981019/text/81019-07.htm |date=10 October 2017 }}).</ref>{{how|date=July 2020}}

===Non-traditional family units===
Article 41.1.1° of the Constitution "recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing [[Natural right|inalienable and imprescriptible rights]], antecedent and superior to all [[positive law]]", and guarantees its protection by the state. The [[Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|34th amendment]] in 2015 mandated recognition of [[Same-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland|same-sex marriage in Ireland]]. A [[2024 Irish constitutional referendums|referendum in March 2024]] rejected [[Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023|a proposed amendment]] which would have deleted a claim that the family is founded on marriage and amended Article 41.1.1° so as to recognise "the Family, "whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships".

A consequence of Article 41 is that non-marital family unit members are not entitled to any of the encompassed protections, including those under the realms of tax, inheritance, and social welfare, granted by Article 41. For example, in ''State (Nicolaou) v. An Bord Uchtála'' (1966),<ref>''State (Nicolaou) v. An Bord Uchtála'' [1966] I.R. 567</ref> where an unmarried father, who had become estranged from the mother of his child some months after living and caring for the same child together, was prevented from invoking the provisions of Article 41 to halt the mother's wishes of putting the child up for [[adoption]]. [[Supreme Court of Ireland|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Brian Walsh (judge)|Brian Walsh]] stated that "the family referred to in [Article 41 was] the family which is founded on the institution of marriage".

=== Economic and social rights ===
Recent polls suggest that more than 70 percent of the Irish public believe that the Irish Constitution should be amended to protect human rights like the [[right to health]] and social security.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murray|first=Thomas|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/contesting-economic-and-social-rights-in-ireland/93A83290186AC020BA1E80934F07A05D|title=Contesting Economic and Social Rights in Ireland: Constitution, State and Society, 1848–2016|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-15535-0|series=Cambridge Studies in Law and Society|location=Cambridge|pages=2|doi=10.1017/cbo9781316652862|access-date=4 January 2021|archive-date=11 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211112356/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/contesting-economic-and-social-rights-in-ireland/93A83290186AC020BA1E80934F07A05D|url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 2014, the Convention on the Irish Constitution (2014) voted to constitutionalise rights to health, housing, and adequate living standards. Successive Irish governments, however, have thus far not acted upon its recommendations to constitutionalise new economic and social rights.

Civil society groups have articulated and mobilised for socio-economic rights in response to the state's handling of the 2008 crisis, particularly its nationalising of private banking debts and imposition of austerity. The Right2Water campaign (2015) mobilised tens of thousands of people in support of the constitutional recognition of a right to water, as well as rights to decent work, health, housing, education, debt justice, and democratic reform. Civil society organisations continue to call for a constitutional right to housing to address homelessness.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murray|first=Thomas|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/contesting-economic-and-social-rights-in-ireland/93A83290186AC020BA1E80934F07A05D|title=Contesting Economic and Social Rights in Ireland: Constitution, State and Society, 1848–2016|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-15535-0|series=Cambridge Studies in Law and Society|location=Cambridge|pages=1–5|doi=10.1017/cbo9781316652862|access-date=4 January 2021|archive-date=11 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211112356/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/contesting-economic-and-social-rights-in-ireland/93A83290186AC020BA1E80934F07A05D|url-status=live}}</ref>