April 2010 Archives

As indicated in my posting Your Country Your Call, I submitted an idea entitled New Republic - New Constitution proposing that a Citizens' Assembly be established to help prepare a new Constitution to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising. You can vote for my entry here.

In this posting, I elaborate on the proposal by suggesting some possible changes to the 1937 Constitution, I cannot be too specific as I don't have all the answers and don't even know all the right questions!  Purposefully, I have steered clear of some potentially controversial issues like the status of Irish, religion and the family. Constitutional law can be very technical and it would be important to consult widely via the proposed Citizens' Assembly and to secure the help of experts and other interested parties.

You can view the Constitution or buy a copy in bookshops for under €3. Relevant material on the Internet includes the following:

• Wikipedia on the Irish Constitution
• All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution
• Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children
• Google search for Irish Constitution

Of course, the political parties have their own views on possible constitutional changes as do many representative and special interest groups.

Here are my thoughts to get the ball rolling:

I have submitted a proposal entitled New Republic - New Constitution to the Your Country Your Call competition which was launched by the President of Ireland. You can see my entry and, hopefully vote for it, at http://tinyurl.com/y7en6rh.

It proposes that the Citizens' Assembly mechanism be used to undertake a comprehensive review of the 1937 Constitution with a view to a new Constitution being put to a referendum ahead of the centenary of the 1916 Rising. A New Republic with a New Constitution would be a much more appropriate way to celebrate this than the predictable parades, flags and monuments.

I had been kicking the idea around for some time but was unable to see how it be progressed without being high-jacked by politicians for their own ends. Several references to Citizens' Assemblies in the inspiring Renewing the Republic series (published by the Irish Times during March/April) were the keys to the door!

Here is my full proposal:

If the Government is powerless to prevent pay increases at the State-owned Anglo Irish Bank, what hope has it of ensuring that the credit policies of the other banks concentrate on helping SMEs rather than bolstering capital bases to benefit owners and bondholders?

Letter published in the Irish Times on 26th March 2010.

Your correspondent Henry Roberts (7th April) makes a good point but has mixed up apples and oranges. The €15.3 billion quoted for California refers to its expected budget deficit for 2010-11 i.e. excess of expenditure over income. The good news is that the €79.3 billion quoted for Ireland relates to our total national debt rather than the budgeted deficit. However, the bad news is that this national debt is about to double thanks to Nama, bank bale outs and ongoing budget deficits.

Letter published in the Irish Times on 8th April 2010.