Bunreacht na hEireann

kerry4sam

With all the posts on the Lisbon Treaty i can't leave the following unsaid...

I think people are forgetting the reason we had the referendum to begin with ... It's all down to Bunreacht na hEireann which has given us the rights we have today in making such a decision by voting; This document which is precise, easily understood to every eligible voter and has certainly protected our democracy.

Thank you Eamon DeValera

turgon

kerry4sam wrote: »

I think people are forgetting the reason we had the referendum to begin with ... It's all down to Bunreacht na hEireann which has given us the rights we have today in making such a decision by voting; This document which is precise, easily understood to every eligible voter and has certainly protected our democracy.

I wouldn't get too attached - this is the document that has literally destroyed the idea of balance of democracy - figurehead president, powerless senate and a situation where the same person controls the legislature and the executuive.

Dev knew what he was doing - sealing power for himself.

Sorry for being off topic

ixtlan

It is a simpler document than Lisbon certainly, but one would have to ask how many Irish people have read it, and question them afterwards as to whether they were confident they then understood it.

Even bunreacht is open to interpretation as we well know from the abortion referendums.

A treaty/constitution for 27 countries is always going to be more complex especially when they all want wriggle room to implement their own policies.

ix.

skelliser

thats not entirely true, the reason we have referenda is down to Ray Crotty, a farmer from kilkenny! who took the government to the high court over the Single european act of 1987.
this is the only decent link i could find if a little biased.
http://www.notlimitednyc.com/folio/pmckenna/agenda/treaty/democracy.html

is_that_so

There's also ongoing review. http://constitution.ie/
The most recent report, IIRC was the rights of the child in 2006 and we almost ended up voting on that last week as well.

eoin2nc

I wouldnt thank DeV now, the original draft gave the Catholic Church a special position, and said the womens place was in the home

Scofflaw

...and then there's the amendments, and the rather large body of quite complex constitutional law that has cleared up what was actually meant by that original "easy to read" document.

cordially,
Scofflaw

brianthebard

turgon wrote: »

I wouldn't get too attached - this is the document that has literally destroyed the idea of balance of democracy - figurehead president, powerless senate and a situation where the same person controls the legislature and the executuive.

Dev knew what he was doing - sealing power for himself.

Sorry for being off topic

its also worth pointing out that he removed popular referendum.
Posted via Mobile Device

robindch

eoin2nc wrote: »

I wouldnt thank DeV now, the original draft gave the Catholic Church a special position, and said the womens place was in the home

That was inserted at Archbishop McQuaid's request, if not direct instruction too.

btw, it's quite interesting to compare the places of religion within the 1922 Free State constitution (based upon the US constitution) and Dev's 1938 one (based upon the requirements of the catholic church).

brianthebard

yes the country took a step backwards with the latter imo.also speaking of referenda,there was a smaller turnout to ratify the constitution
than there was to vote no to lisbon. (useless fact)Posted via Mobile Device