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Book unravels history of Irish constitution TWO historians
have explored how the Irish constitution was created for a new book.
The Making Of The Irish Constitution reproduces over 200 pages of historical
documents and explains who wrote the constitution and why.
Authors Dermot Keogh and Andrew McCarthy got permission to include documents
for the book that were previously unpublished.
And Andrew said: “People with little or no knowledge of the Irish
Constitution of 1937 will be brought up to speed fairly quickly.
“Readers who are familiar with the constitution will also be interested
as many of the official documents are being printed for the first time.”
Andrew and co-author Dermot are professors of history at University College
Cork.
The inspiration for the study came about following a long-standing interest
in the project.
Andrew said: “Dermot first wrote an article in a 1987 issue of the
journal Administration which recognised the constitution’s 50th
anniversary.
“This work is a chance for us to enlarge the story with greater
access to information in the last 20 years and permission granted to reproduce
important documents.”
The book deals with important issues which arose from the language of
the original document and discusses the debate over who really designed
the constitution.
Andrew said: “The book attempts to clarify the question of who really
drafted the constitution.
“It was a select team of trusted, senior civil servants whom De
Valera entrusted with the process as he himself had no legal training.
“Along the way the Jesuits and John Charles McQuaid were involved
but their involvement was through consultation only.” |
