The Constitutional Location of Europe

Abstract

From the perspective of domestic Irish law, the body of EU law enters the national legal order by passing through the narrow but gradually widening door found in Article 29.4 of the Irish Constitution. Article 29.4.3°, inserted in the Constitution in 1972, authorized Irish accession to the three then-extant Communities. It also provided a shield of immunity preventing the constitutional invalidation of any laws, acts or measures by Ireland which were ‘necessitated’ by the obligations of membership and preventing laws, acts or measures by the Communities, or their institutions from being deprived of legal force within the State. The new subsection was of immense significance. The combined effect of this constitutional amendment and the adoption of European Communities Act 1972 was described by one contemporary commentator as being as if the people of Ireland had adopted European law as a second but transcendent Constitution Just under four decades later and the ‘European clauses’ in the Irish Constitution have now been expanded to over eight separate subsections (now numbered Article 29.4. 3° to Article 29.4.10°). Significant relevant case-law has also been generated by the Courts. This article reflects on some of the most important issues concerning these ‘European clauses’ in the Irish Constitution.