The Supreme Court Ireland
- Author: Ruádhan Mac Cormaic
- Title: The Supreme Court
- Published: 2016
- Trivia: Reading Ireland Challenge
- Trivia: List of Challenges 2017
Author: Who is Mac Cormaic?
- Ruadhan Mac Cormaic is the
- former Legal Affairs Correspondent and
- Paris Correspondent of the Irish Times.
- He is now the paper’s Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
What were the main struggles between 1950 – 2017 ?
- The duty of the Supreme Court judiciary is:
- Not rewrite the Constitution of Ireland
- …but make sure it was applied
- …to breath life into it
- …to break with the traditional reliance
- …on English law and legal methods
What is the book about?
- The book traces many landmark decisions and gives the reader an
- inside look at the internal ‘give and take’ among the judges
- to produce an objective agreement or dissent decision.
- It reveals who the judges are
- These men and women who usually want to stay out of the limelight.
How did Ireland change?
- Ireland moved from decisions about
- butter smugglers, disputes over greyhounds and a row about livestock licenses
- …to individual’s privacy rights (contraceptives),
- …referendum for European treaties,
- …decriminalization of homosexuality and
- …women’s rights to leave country to seek an abortion in England and much more.
- Ireland has made GIANT steps to become a
- modern, young, confident and economically strong country.
What impressed me about the book?
- It was fascinating to read each judges motivation to topics about
- the privacy of the individual (May McGee vs Attorney General; contraceptives)
- the need for more equality to allow
- women to serve jury duty and
- be fairly taxed
- a demand for referenda about European treaties
- secure the rights of people concerning
- the rules applied for extradition of
- …suspected criminal (IRA) offenders to England.
What is essential to know before reading the book?
- Political parties: this is all new for me!
- Fianna Fail (center right)
- Fine Gael (center right… liberal conservative)
- Oireachtas: = the legislature (structure of the Irish government
- The President of Ireland
- The two houses of the Oireachtas
- Dáil Éireann (lower house)
- Seanad Éireann (upper house)
What was my reading strategy?
- Best tip: use wikipedia
- Put a face on people mentioned in the book.
- Best tip: learn structure US courts vs Irish courts
- …just to put things into perspective.
Conclusion:
- Strong point:
- Ruadhán Mac Cormaic is a political journalist for the Irish Times.
- His writing style is NOT ACADEMIC…it is accessible
- …not only for those interested in law but also for
- anyone wanting to learn more how these
- …Supreme Court justices shaped Ireland.
- Mac Cormaic gives us the gripping inside story of the Irish judiciary,
- the judges, decisions, the rifts and the rivalries.
- Ruádhan Mac Cormaic lifts the veil on
- the Irish Supreme Court’s hidden world.
- The book is well-written and highly entertaining and
- in my opinion…
- #InformativeRead
QUICKSCAN Ireland:
- Ireland 1950’s:
- economy stagnant
- politics still haunted by civil war
- …ceaseless outward flow of people (emigration)
- 1960’s:
- broader shifts in society
- growing economy
- rising living standards
- 1970’s:
- emigration slows down
- women’s movement gaining strength
- population is young 50% under 26 yr
- 1980’s:
- High Court has its first female judge
- Mella Carroll
- 1990’s:
- First female and non-catholic…
- Supreme Court judge….Susan Denham.
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 2011-2017.
- She was a shrewd diplomat and key player behind
- a series of major reforms.
- 2000’s
- Supreme Court was must
- Focus on:
- …ensuring rights in political, criminal
- …and legal processes of the State.
- Focus on
- ...fair procedures and access to the courts
- 2010’s:
- Change: Fianna-Fail led governments
- …appointed a majority of lawyers who had
- …NO connections to the party!
- Susan Denham is appointed as the
- …first female Chief Supreme Court Justice! (2011)
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