In the second of a four part series of articles about the origins of the Irish Constitution, we look at the key influences behind the Constitution, whose combined resulted in manifesto for the State and its principles .

A team of high-ranking civil servants made up the Constitution Committee. These were legal adviser to the Department of External Affairs, John Hearne, secretary to the Department of Justice, Stephen Roche, assistant secretary to the Department of the President, Michael McDunphy, and legal assistant to the Attorney General, Philip O’Donoghue. Most important of the civil servants was Hearne. Some scholars have gone so far as to call Hearne the ‘author’ of the 1937 Constitution. Nonetheless, de Valera himself was undoubtedly the most important influence on the document. Part of his rationale for introducing a new Constitution included guaranteeing the fundamental rights of citizens.

Other important influences in drafting the Constitution were Father John Charles McQuaid, President of Blackrock College and later Archbishop of Dublin and Father Edward Cahill, a Jesuit priest. McQuaid would have a big impact on the Constitution through his advice to de Valera on matters of religion and society. Cahill also had an impact and his involvement led to a submission to the government on the Constitution by the Jesuits.

It was perhaps the possible tension between the legal concerns of the civil servants and the philosophical concerns of the religious figures that led to the Irish Constitution being, perhaps uniquely, ‘both law and manifesto’. Unlike other constitutions, the 1937 Constitution attempted to be a manifesto for the State and its principles.

Next: Influence of other Constitutions

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