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The Irish Constitution - Have You Ever Read It?

  • 06-07-2018 12:37pm
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭


    Matters of constitutional law rarely seem far from the news in recent times, between same sex marriage, divorce, abortion rights, and now talk of blasphemy and the (*cough*) woman's place in the kitchen, etc. Going off on a tangent there's also in a roundabout sort of way the possible impact Brexit may or may not have on the GFA.

    It all got me wondering about the constitution of the republic and how much of it the average citizen actually knows about. Have you ever read the document from start to finish? What do you know about its history? How much of it do you understand? Do you own a copy, or are you aware of where you can get one? How well versed do you expect authority figures such as TDs, senators, local councillors, even gardai and solicitors to be with it?

    Personally, and I'm not proud to admit this, but other than what comes up in referenda I know very little. I mean obviously we all know there are certain things that need to be dealt with by the courts, the minister for justice, the Oireachtas, and other issues that need to be decided by the citizens. I just don't always what's what.

    I did try to take an interest as a teenager back in the 80's, I became aware that you could get a copy of the constitution from any local GPO (is this still the case?) but from what I knew of it then it just seemed to be worded in some kind of difficult "legalese" language that went right over my head. This was all pre-internet days before you could just download a copy for free, and maybe these days I'd be better able to make sense of it, but it's all kinda passed me by by now, and I no longer live in Ireland anyway.

    I was never once taught a single thing about it in school by the way, and without excusing my own ignorance on the subject if your school doesn't think it's important to teach then let's be honest, kids don't tend to think it's important to learn.

    So what about the rest of you? How familiar are you with Bunreacht na hEireann? Is it your civic duty and personal responsibility to study it? Or, you know, whatever, meh?


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