Colm Keaveney’s vote against the Social Welfare Bill this week inadvertently highlighted an interesting constitutional conundrum. Part of the Labour chair’s complaint was that responsibility for the budget had, allegedly, been delegated to the four-man “Economic Management Council”. He claimed that this new body – which has already been coined a “Government within the Government”(…)
About Eoin Daly
Posts by Eoin Daly:
Shadow constitutional convention #18: the referendum in liberal and republican thought
Eoin Daly, UCD. This essay is a part of our shadow constitutional convention series. “Direct democracy” has a bad press. While it has obvious practical limitations in mass democracies, plebiscitary government is sometimes also derided as inherently “populist” – and indeed, potentially dangerous for individual liberties. Its detractors claim that the referendum, as an instrument(…)
Legal Analysis of the Children's Referendum: Article 42A.2.1 Value Pluralism and the Children’s Rights Amendment
Dr Eoin Daly is a lecturer in law in the Faculty of Law, University College Dublin One of the concerns raised by the opponents of the proposed amendment is that it might make it easier for the State to override the decisions of parents thought to be foolish, ill-judged, or bad for children as determined(…)
Same-sex marriage doesn't need a referendum
Recent months have seen the movement for same-sex marriage gain astonishing political momentum. At least three cabinet ministers have recently declared in favour of equalising marriage rights, while a recent opinion poll suggested that almost three quarters of the public agree. A broad spectrum of political opinion supports reform; this week, one local authority unanimously(…)
Shadow constitutional convention #5: O'Gorman on environmental rights
Shadow constitutional convention #4: Prendergast on the minimum voting age
Hollande and human rights: the legacy and ambitions of French socialism
François Hollande is the first left-winger to be elected French President since Mitterand’s second term in 1988. In a semi-presidentialist constitutional system, Hollande will wield considerable influence over domestic policy, particularly if, as expected, the forthcoming two-round parliamentary elections enable him to appoint a socialist Prime Minister and Government. While the current focus of international(…)
Is the Government's referendum "information" campaign unconstitutional?
Controversy has erupted surrounding the Government’s use of public funds for an allegedly neutral “information” campaign for the forthcoming referendum on the “Stability Treaty” (aka the Fiscal Compact). While the Referendum Act 1998 provides for an independent referendum commission to inform voters on proposed amendments, the Government has committed an additional €2million for a separate(…)
Announcing the Shadow Constitutional Convention
Rousseau at 300
2012 marks the 300th birthday of the great Swiss political philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. While a number of events and commemorations will mark this tercentenary, it is worth briefly noting his contribution to political and legal philosophy, and the ambiguous status of human rights in his theory of political right. Rousseau is a colossus in the(…)