‘’The Irish constitution protects fundamental rights of the citizens of Ireland and has served the country well’’
I agree with the statement that ‘The Irish constitution protects fundamental rights of the citizens of Ireland and has served the country well’. There are many reasons why I agree with the above statement including certain important fundamental rights, the ‘common good’ rule, allowing the citizens to vote in referendums and limiting certain rights. I feel that these aspects of the constitution have served the country well and I will prove this in the following essay. The constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht Na hEireann) is one of the oldest constitutions in Europe. It was adopted by a referendum on the first of July 1937 and later came into effect on the 29th December 1937. The constitution set ground rules as to how political power can be or should be exercised as to what governments can or cannot do. It also sets the rights of the citizens of a country. These are known as fundamental rights.
The constitution of Ireland understands and acknowledges that people living in Ireland have certain rights. Fundamental rights are natural human rights that are approved and protected by the Constitution. These rights held under the constitution ensure that all individuals living in Ireland are equal under the law and all share the same rights. Some of the main fundamental rights that are protected by the Constitution include;
Equality before the law ensures that all citizens are treated equally before the law. An individual’s human attributes or their ethnic, racial, social or religious background cannot lead to the inferior or superior treatment of the individual from the law. This fundamental right has served the country well ...
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...I agree with the statement that ‘The Irish constitution protects fundamental rights of the citizens of Ireland and has served the country well’ for the reasons that it gives the Irish citizens freedom, the constitution does what is best for the greater majority of the population, it allows the citizens of Ireland to have their say in changes of Ireland by voting once they are 18 and because it limits the rights of the citizens of Ireland to benefit the greater good of the population.
References:
1. http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/irish_constitution_1/constitution_fundamental_rights.html
2. http://www.supremecourt.ie/supremecourt/sclibrary3.nsf/pagecurrent/D5F78352A387D74480257315005A419E?opendocument&l=en
3. http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Historical_Information/The_Constitution/Constitution_of_Ireland_-_Bunreacht_na_h%C3%89ireann.html
“Ireland must be governed in the English interest” as Document 1 states. The Irish and English relationship is one of ethnic superiority over the other and geographical divide. The English feel like it is their duty to make the Irish people like themselves and they believe that their religion is the crux of what makes them inferior and the Irish just want to be left alone. The geographical divide between the nations is the mainly protestant, Ulster, and the Catholic rest of the island as Document 9 suggests. This has caused many disputes because of the fact that Irish Nationalists want the whole island unified.
The Constitution lays out the rights and obligations of the newly formed United States government. But, what of the rights and obligations of its citizens? Starting in 1791 only two years after the Constitution was ratified the Constitution began to evolve and this process continues to this day. The first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. This Bill of Rights outlines the protections which citizens have from the government of the United States. The question raised in the title of this paper is; Are the Bill of Rights, written well over 200 years ago still relevant today? Of course they are and probably even more so. To illustrate this fact we will examine each of the ten amendments rewrite each one using common everyday language of today and if possible discuss why this was important in 1791 and why we may or may not need this document in writing today. In restating each amendment I will try to write it as if it is a brand new document, which is a stretch to say the least. With out the struggle of the colonies through war and abuse by the English Monarchy would one have the foresight to see how a government may take for granted the rights of its citizenry?
Constitution is a necessary feature as it defines how power is disseminated within the government and establishes the rights of the citizens and the laws and rules for the country. In order to be successful, a country’s should reflect and satisfy every citizen’s needs and interests.
Although the Constitution was put in place to protect the people, there is much debate about the strength and weaknesses of the Constitution. If you lived in this era, would you for or against the Constitution? The pros and cons of the Constitution seem to be based on geographical location, with the primary goal being breaking free of Britain control and establishing a functioning government that we all can live by. The boundaries of slavery stood in the midst of forming a more perfect union. Creating a more perfect union had its’ own agenda such as setting boundaries for state governments, securities, commerce, and the welfare of the people. In establishing the Constitution, it was decided that three branches government should be in powers
After the American Revolution, America had earned it’s freedom from Britain. In order to govern this new country the Articles of Confederation was created. This document was flawed by the colonists fear of putting too much power into a central government. Knowing the document needed to be fixed a constitutional convention was called. The document created at this convention has been our constitution ever since. But even the Constitution was meet with criticism. One major concern when writing the constitution was how to protect the citizens rights. The Constitution did this through the preamble, the legislative process, the limit of presidential terms, the judicial branch, and the bill of rights.
...for the Irish Catholic immigrants as well as the others, “the old-stock drive for conformity and community represented attacks on their culture, religion and ethnicity. Repeatedly their stake in American society, their right to be American citizens, was denied” (Dumenil, 248). I agree that it was their right to become American citizens. Discriminating against Irish Catholic immigrants was unjust, especially for the reason that there is no rational or justifiable way to discriminate against which people are allowed to immigrate and which are not.
The Constitution is the pulse of our nation, pumping freedom from sea to shining sea. The Constitution is alive, and it acts as a guide to our leaders throughout the country, granting each citizen their individual rights. President Ronald Regan used the Constitution as framework for countless decisions in his eight years as president, from urging Mr. Gorbachev to “Tear down that wall!”, to maximizing the War on Drugs. President Regan utilized various limbs of the Constitution to serve the people in a multitude of ways, especially through Article II. Though the Article is compact, it has been understood and exercised in many different ways by our presidents. Our
The Constitution was written in order to protect the general rights of all Americans as well as to set guidelines for limiting government control. During the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy caused a nationwide phenomenon, which led to the government violating many rights of Americans. As McCarthy addressed to the Wheeling Women’s Republican Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, in February of 1950,
“The Constitution leaves in its wake a long legacy, forever shaping the fate of many other countries. Whether those countries are currently in a state favorable to liberty or not, it is undeniable that the U.S. Constitution’s principles have caused people to rethink how to organize their political systems” (Hang). Time has only added value to the Constitution, for every time we reference it in our lives it is a testament of our trust and loyalty in what it states about our rights as individuals and the role the government plays in our lives. When it was written, the Constitution was the law of the land that gave people rights they had previously lived without. Similarly, we live lives of choice and independence because of the same document while other countries limit all the rights we are guaranteed in the Constitution. Simply put, “The Constitution is important because it protects individual freedom, and its fundamental principles govern the United States. The Constitution places the government 's power in the hands of the citizens. It limits the power of the government and establishes a system of checks and balances”
The beneficial aspect of Irish membership can, in most cases, be easily seen in three main areas:
...ines and protects our rights and freedoms as citizens and provides the framework for how our Government is ran. By recognizing how impossible it would be for one government to be able to govern and protect all of the people of a large nation, the Constitution deals with the principles of individual liberty and limited government. The Constitution protects the rights of all citizens, regardless of religion and ethnic group, and makes it possible for people of all different backgrounds to live peacefully in the same nation.
Religion in James Joyce's Dubliners Religion was an integral part of Ireland during the modernist period, tightly woven into the social fabric of its citizens. The Catholic Church was a longstanding tradition of Ireland. In the modernist spirit of breaking away from forces that inhibited growth, the church stood as one of the principal barriers. This is because the Catholic faith acted as the governing force of its people, as portrayed in James Joyce’s Dubliners. In a period when Ireland was trying to legitimize their political system, religious affiliations further disillusioned the political process. The governing body of a people needs to provide a behavioral framework, through its constitution, and a legal process to make delegations on issues of equity and fairness. When religion dominates the government that is in tact, it subjects its citizens to their religious doctrines. In terms of Catholicism in Ireland, this meant that social progress and cultural revolutions were in terms of what the church would allow. The modernist realized that this is what paralyzed the Irish society of the times. In the stories of Dubliners the legal system is replaced by the institute of religion, and it is the presence and social context of the Catholic Church which prevents the Irish community from advancement. ...
While an uncodified constitution has the advantages of dynamic, adaptability and flexibility to meet the ever-changing needs of the society , it poses much difficulty in pinpointing the ultimate constitutional principle that should provide legitimacy in the British constitution. This results in a battle between two broad schools of thought––political constitutionalism and legal constitutionalism.
The following essay will look at the main areas of difference between the Irish Constitutions of 1922 and 1937. There are many reasons why the Constitution was redrawn and changed in 1937 after first being drawn up in 1922. The 1922 Constitution was made after a time of serious turmoil in Ireland and needed to be upgraded by the late 1930’s. There are a number of reasons why it needed to be transformed. It was outdated by the 1930’s and as Ireland began to grow and move away from the influence of the British, the laws of the time did not reflect the culture of the day. Another reason why it was changed was the very strong relationship between the Irish people and the Catholic Church. Finally there was also changes in the running of the country
…rights which are inherent to the human being ... human rights acknowledges that every single human being is entitled to enjoy his or her human rights without distinction as to race, [color], sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. [To add on, human] rights are legally guaranteed by human rights law, protecting individuals and groups against actions that interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity (Human rights for