Review of Eoin Carolan s The Constitution of Ireland: perspectives and prospects

This book was produced following a conference held in King's Inns in June 2012 in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Bunreacht na hÉireann. The aim of the conference was to reflect on the past, present and future of the Irish Constitution. As expected, many of the papers consider aspects of political and *250 constitutional reform as well as other social and political issues which form part of contemporary Irish thought. One area, which editor Eoin Carolan points out is conspicuous by its absence, is that of substantive constitutional rights. Having been the focus of so much constitutional scholarship in the last number of decades, it may seem strange that issues around constitutional rights are not examined in such a volume of essays. However, as Carolan suggests: “[I]t may be that other less charted areas of constitutional doctrine offer more appealing prospects for new scholarship.”