Ireland’s marriage equality referendum and the ideal of a ‘people’s constitution’

Posted on: 09 February 2023

A free public lecture in Trinity next week will explore how the 2015 Marriage Equality Referendum demonstrated the pivotal role of conversation, compassion and controversy in creating a living constitution which people see as their own.

On Tuesday, February 14, Professor Aileen Kavanagh will deliver her inaugural lecture entitled ‘The People’s Constitution: An American Dream Through Irish Eyes’ in which will argue that the Irish Constitution of 1937 realizes the ideal of a ‘people’s constitution’ to a far greater extent than its American counterpart. She will argue that the referendum process in Ireland manages to be a form of popular – but not populist – constitutional change which avoids populist mantras or the politics of hate.

The event, taking place in the Edmund Burke Lecture Theatre at 6pm, marks the occasion of Aileen’s appointment as Professor of Constitutional Governance at the School of Law. Aileen is also Director of TriCON, the Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance. Formerly Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Oxford, she has written widely in the fields of constitutional theory, human rights, and comparative constitutional law. She is author of The Collaborative Constitution, which will be published by Cambridge University Press in June 2023.

Speaking in advance of the event, Prof Kavanagh said: "Beginning with the words ‘We, the People’, the American Constitution 1789 conjured the dream of a democratic constitution rooted in the power of the people. Looking at the American dream through Irish eyes, I will argue that the Irish Constitution of 1937 – Bunreacht na hÉireann – realizes the ideal of a ‘people’s constitution’ to a far greater extent than its American counterpart. It does so by allowing the people to amend their constitution by referendum. Using the marriage equality referendum in 2015 as a pivotal example of popular constitutionalism, this lecture will explore the role of conversation and compassion, empathy and engagement, criticism and controversy, in creating a living constitution which people can see as their own."

Further information here: https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/events/event/inaugural-lecture-for-prof-aileen-kavanagh.php

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