On the course: CSPE strand 3 and Leaving Cert Politics and Society topics 2 and 5 both start from this text. Topic 2 uses it for institutions. Topic 5 uses it for rights in Ireland.

A constitution is the rulebook for the rules. Bunreacht na hÉireann says who can make laws, who runs the State day to day, how judges are appointed and protected, and which rights no ordinary law can take away. It replaced the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State and was drafted under Éamon de Valera's government.

Two ideas run through the whole text. First, popular sovereignty: Article 6 says all powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive from the people. Second, constitutional supremacy: Article 15.4 forbids the Oireachtas from passing any law that is repugnant to the Constitution, and the courts can strike such a law down.

The Constitution was written in Irish and English. Article 8 makes Irish the national language and first official language. If the two texts ever conflict, Article 25.5.4 says the Irish text prevails.

The same text is still the one in force. On 23 January 2025 the Dáil nominated Micheál Martin as Taoiseach under Articles 13 and 28. Catherine Connolly was inaugurated as President on 11 November 2025 under Articles 12 to 14. In March 2024 voters rejected two proposed amendments, on family and care, so those Articles stayed as they were.

Article 42A on children's rights was added after the 2012 children's referendum. When you see a letter after a number, it usually marks an Article inserted by a later amendment.

Articles 40 to 44 protect rights that the courts will enforce: equality before the law, personal liberty, the inviolability of the dwelling, freedom of expression, assembly and association, the family, education, private property and freedom of religion. Many of these rights are qualified, which means the Oireachtas can regulate them for reasons such as public order or the common good.

Irish courts have also recognised unenumerated rights, meaning rights not written out in the text but implied by it. The classic example is Ryan v Attorney General [1965] IR 294, where the right to bodily integrity was identified. Later courts have become more cautious about adding new unenumerated rights, which is a useful debate for essays on judicial power.

Article 45, the Directive Principles of Social Policy, is different. It sets out aims for social and economic policy but expressly says those principles are not cognisable by any court. They guide the Oireachtas; they do not give individuals a right to sue.

Article 34 gives the High Court, and on appeal the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, power to decide whether a law is valid having regard to the Constitution. Laws passed by the Oireachtas are presumed constitutional until shown otherwise, but a law found repugnant is invalid to the extent of the conflict.

There is also a preventive route. Under Article 26, the President may, after consulting the Council of State, refer most Bills to the Supreme Court before signing them. If the Court finds the Bill repugnant, the President must not sign it. Money Bills and Bills to amend the Constitution cannot be referred this way.

• A Bill to amend the Constitution must start in Dáil Éireann (Article 46.2).
• It must pass both Houses of the Oireachtas.
• It is then put to the people in a referendum, and it passes if a majority of the votes cast are in favour (Article 47).
• The President signs it into law and the text of the Constitution changes.
• An amendment Bill cannot contain any other proposal (Article 46.4).

Referendums have produced some of the biggest changes in modern Ireland: joining the European Economic Community in 1972, rewording Articles 2 and 3 after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, marriage equality in 2015, and repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018. Voters also reject proposals, as they did with the two family and care amendments in March 2024.

EU treaties matter here too. In Crotty v An Taoiseach [1987] IR 713, the Supreme Court held that ratifying the Single European Act required a constitutional amendment. That decision is why significant EU treaty changes have often gone to referendum in Ireland.See how Irish referendums work.

• Why can the Oireachtas not simply pass a law to change the Constitution?
• What is the difference between a right in Article 40 and a principle in Article 45?
• Who can refer a Bill to the Supreme Court, and when?
• Why did the Crotty case make EU referendums more common in Ireland?
• Should judges be able to identify rights that are not written in the text? Give one argument each way.