The Irish Political Constitution
Friday 28th November
National University of Ireland, Merrion square, Dublin
Constitutions are designed to allocate and limit state power. However, no single document can seek to comprehensively convey the array of means through which a state gives effect to these functions. While the text of Bunreacht na hÉireann and judicial pronouncements regarding its interpretation form the elemental basis of Irish constitutionalism, political forces and actors also play a pivotal role in shaping Ireland’s constitutional culture. From questions as to the constitutionality of junior ministers and the role of the Ceann Comhairle and allocation of Dáil speaking time, to referendum campaigns and debates concerning the appropriate function of the presidency, the form and function of the Irish political constitution is more salient than ever.
The aim of this symposium is to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of scholars to discuss the contours of the Irish political constitution. To what extent does Ireland rely on political as distinct from legal constraints to allocate and limit state power? How does the lived political reality differ from that implied by Bunreacht na hÉireann? And how do these political and legal controls shape and interact with each other to produce a uniquely Irish form of parliamentary democracy?
Proposed topics include but are not limited to:
- Historical and comparative perspectives on the Irish political constitution;
- Political conventions, including conventions surrounding the presidency;
- Judicial understandings of the political constitution;
- Parliamentary privilege, Oireachtas committees, and judicial oversight;
- The political constitution and the separation of powers;
- The composition of the executive;
- The constitutional role of political parties;
- The role of the Ceann Comhairle, the ordering of Dáil business, and political conventions;
- The intersection between law and politics, including de facto veto holders;
- How constitutional amendment processes shape politics;
- Political accountability processes and judicial deference including in the area of national security and foreign policy;
- The political constitution and ‘fourth branch institutions’;
- Ministerial co-operation and institutional architecture under the Good Friday Agreement;
- The EU and the political constitution.
Abstracts of a maximum of 300 words and should be sent to laura.cahillane@ul.ie before Friday 30th May 2025. We have secured an agreement in principle to produce a special issue of the Irish Jurist containing papers presented at the symposium which we envisage being published in the second half of 2026.
Organisers: Prof Laura Cahillane, Dr Donal Coffey, and Dr Alan Greene