The second state of emergency, thundering discrace

larryone

Hi,

There is endless record and documentation about The Emergency 1939-1976
And there is quite a bit out there about the circumstances of the second declaration of a state of emergency and the resignation of the President...

But when was the second state of emergency rescinded? I can't find information on the date of this...

Arsemageddon

The 1976 Emergency Powers Act was introduced in October 1976 after the assassination of the British ambassador and a small explosion at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. In order for this act to have legal effect it was necessary for the government to declare that a state of emergency existed in Ireland. As far as I remember, the main difference between the Emergency Powers Act (1976) and the Offences Against the State Act (1939) was that the former granted the Gardaí the power to detain suspects for 7 days before charging them.

The text of the 1976 act specifically states that it would only last 12 months in duration from the date of introduction. As the act wasn't renewed in 1977 it has had had no legal effect since then. However, in theory it could have been re-activated at any time as the Dail had declared that the conditions that gave rise to a state of emergency in 1976 had not changed. (See article 28.3.3 of the constitution). The Dail voted to finally rescind this state of emergency in 1995.

larryone

So does that mean that we've technically had a state of emergency for 56 years?
That's the majority of the lifetime of the state...

Manach

There are a hierarchy of agreements that Ireland signed up for : UN and European court of Human rights, since at least the 60s. So in theory one could have appealed to the latter body during that period if the emergency act could have broken a human right. But given how long the cases typically take, stretching for years, and that the ECHR judgements in say Northern Ireland did not have much effect during the worst of the troubles, then the rule of the State does seem to have been very much built on a protection of itself as an institution.

Peregrinus

larryone wrote: »

So does that mean that we've technically had a state of emergency for 56 years?
That's the majority of the lifetime of the state...

Yes. On the other hand the declaration of a state of emergency has no effect in itself. Once a state of emergency has been declared the Oireachtas can then enact legislation which is immune from being invalidated under the Constitution, but the legislation must expressly refer to the state of emergency, and must state that it is for the purpose of securing public safety and preserving the state. That legislation has effect.

The declaration of the first state of emergency in 1939 was followed by the enactment of the Emergency Powers Act 1939, which gave the government sweeping powers of internment, censorship, direction of the economy, etc. It was immune from constitutional challenge, but (under its own terms) expired on 2 September 1946. From the next 30 years there was no legislation in force under the power of emergency which was immune from constitutional challenge, so the fact that the power of emergency had itself not been brought to an end didn't have any legal or constitutional consequences.

We've had emergency legislation, immune from constitutional challenge, in force for a total of 8 years since the foundation of the state. That's probably a more meaningful statement.