Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

—-a form of incorporation not unlike ours. It has not, however, provided for this right of action for damages which we have provided for in the Bill.

In regard to Senator Terry's intervention on the Bar Council and the other groups, we are coming close to the heart of the issue. The Minister and the Government have a strong view on this question based on their conviction that the Constitution of 1937 provided for a basic law for this State even before the Second World War took place. It is one of the oldest constitutions in Europe and it provides for a clear vesting in the people of a right to control their Government through the referendum procedure. It also provides for clear organs of State, the legislative Executive and judicial domain. It contains a bill of rights which has been interpreted and developed by the courts over the decades to create an impressive scaffolding of rights which, as Senator Jim Walsh mentioned, is virtually identical to the substantive content of the European Convention on Human Rights.