Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I congratulate Seanad Éireann on having a debate on the anniversary of the Constitution. It came into operation on 29 December 1937 and while this debate did not take place in the calendar year of 2007, it has taken place within a few weeks of the anniversary of the Constitution's commencement.

I join Senator Cassidy in paying tribute to Professor Keogh on his magnificent work describing the origins of the Constitution and the work of the drafters who produced the final text and who assisted the then President of the Executive Council, Mr. de Valera, in its preparation. I also pay tribute to Professor Gerard Hogan, who in a masterly analysis of the Constitution and its origins made the point that Mr. de Valera was of course one of the outstanding liberals of his generation.

Senator Regan finds it very difficult to avoid being contentious in this House but I note that when the Constitution was introduced in 1937 it was the only written constitution in Europe which made express reference to the existence of the Jewish congregations. In the course of making a criticism about the former provision recognising different religious faiths, Article 44, Senator Regan should have noticed the express reference to the existence of the Jewish congregations in Ireland. A former Chief Rabbi made the point that at the time it was a far greater assurance to the Jewish congregations of Ireland to be mentioned in the Constitution than to be given the kind of abstract guarantees of freedom they were conferred with in constitutions such as the Soviet constitution of 1936. This is an example of the essential liberalism of Mr. de Valera in the original text of the Constitution.

I take issue with the rather hackneyed presentation by Senator Regan about the contrast between some modern crusading era inaugurated by Dr. FitzGerald and the original text. Dr. Fitzgerald has many achievements to his credit, including the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1986, but a permanent imprint on the text of the Constitution is not among them because that particular crusade, like some crusades before it, ended in the sands.