A Discourse Perspective on Bunreacht na hÉireann - A Sound Constitution?

Constitutions tell us something about the shared values cherished by nations who adopt them. As a by-product of liberalism and its disdain for the concentration of absolute power and its arbitrary nature, constitutions were to develop in Western Europe and North America in the attempt to define and delimit government. By reason of their significance for the countries where they are in force, constitutional texts may be approached from various perspectives including political science and legal theory. In this book, a different angle is taken on the matter. As its object of study, the Constitution of Ireland is investigated from a discourse perspective. In particular, the volume fields the following research questions: Why has the Constitution been such a key document for the Republic?; What was and is the impact of the Constitution on Irish public discourse at both a popular and a specialised level?; How was the Constitution represented and “argued” by the Irish press upon its enactment?; How has it entered the argumentation of Irish judges across the decades, as they have been required to pronounce on the compatibility of proposed legislation with its norms? By combining a wide range of analytical approaches, the book aims to establish a workable, integrated and highly flexible methodological framework for the study of the relationship between Ireland’s founding charter and the country’s public sphere.