The Gazette 1971

this effect, so as not to upset the panel or university representation of the other members of the Seanad. The Government Article 28 restricts the size of the Government to between seven and fifteen members. In view of the increased role of Government, a strong argument could be made for increasing this number, perhaps to twenty. An occasion for this amendment could be the opening of the Government to participation by a member of the Stormont Government. It is provided that the members of the Government must be members of either the Dáil or Seanad, so that the Northern member should be one of the Parliamentary representatives chosen from Stor- mont to sit in the Oireachtas—so fulfilling this condi- tion of the Constitution. Other Articles No other Constitutional amendments would appear to be necessary, although it would be appropriate to mod- ify Article 44 in order to remove the provisions relating to the special position of the Catholic Church and the recognition by the State of a list of other named reli- gious denominations existing in 1937. These sections have had a prejudicial effect on relations with the North, and their removal has been advocated by leaders in both communities—lay and religious. Similarly, this would be an appropriate occasion to remove from the Constitution the provisions of Article 41 relating to divorce. The result would not be an immediate divorce law for the South, but it would place the subject in the proper context of the development of a marriage law. If a majority of the people at some later stage wish to introduce a limited facility for divorce, this could be considered in the same manner as any other legislative proposal. The Government of Ireland Act, 1920 This Act, which was to provide for the Constitutional structures of Northern and Southern Ireland, was never effectively brought into being in Southern Ireland, but forms the basic Constitutional document of Northern Ireland since the proclamation issued by the Lord Lieu- tenant on 4th May 1921 which called that Parlia- ment into being and provided for elections to the Senate and House of Commons on the following June 7th. It may be noted that the election of Members of the House of Commons was held according to the principle of proportional representation as required by Section 14 (3) of the Act. This principle was abolished, except as applied to the four university seats in the fifty-two- member House by the House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland), 1929. Voting by proportional representation could be re-introduced by the simple repeal of that 1929 Act. The Senate, under Section 13 of the 1920 Act, is composed of two ex-officio members, the Lord Mayors of Belfast and Londonderry, and twenty-four senators elected by proportional representation by the House of Commons. The term of office of the elected members, which is unaffected by the dissolution of Parliament, is eight years, one half retiring every fourth year. It is the Parliament of Northern Ireland, under Sec- tion 14 (5) of the 1920 Act, which has power to alter the qualification and registration of electors, the law relating to elections and the distribution of members among the constituencies. This body might have power to admit a certain number of Dáil Deputies and Southern Senators as members of Stormont on a reciprocal basis. The return to full pronortional representation would 43

England. How much more appropriate to have a single Parliamentary Commissioner for the North and South of this country! Added to this, there ought to be citizens' advice bureaux to advise on the availability of social services, etc. In counties near the Border, these advice bureaux ought to be joint bodies with the county on the other side. Nothing could bring home more effec- tively to those sitting on such bodies the advantageous position, as far as educational and social welfare bene- fits are concerned, of the citizen of the North. This ought to force the South to concentrate on these areas in order to try to raise our standards and equalise the position of citizens of the whole country. It is not my intention to minimise the effort this would involve, but it is vital to the closer association between the two communities. CHANGES To enter the E.E.C. and undertake the obligations of the Paris and Rome Treaties, it will be necessary to modify certain articles of the Constitution. This must be done by the introduction of a Bill to amend the Constitution into the Dáil, its passage through both Houses of the Oireachtas and the holding of a refer- endum of the people under Articles 46 and 47 of the Constitution. This is an elaborate and expensive pro- cess. It would be extremely short-sighted to engage in such Constitutional reform without also examining the modifications which would be necessary in order to implement a Constitutional solution such as that outlined. 1937 Constitution Article 3 reads as follows. "Pending the reintegration of the national territory, and without prejudice to the right of the Parliament and Government established by this Constitution to exercise jurisdiction over the whole of that territory, the laws enacted by the Parliament shall have the like area and extent of application as the laws of Saorstat Eireann and the like extra-terri- torial effect." This is an unnecessary assertion of jurisdiction if the suggested functional approach of co-operation with the North and the interdependence of our institutions is introduced. It should be possible to avoid conceptual notions of sovereignty and to concede the realitv of a certain autonomy to the Northern community. As a consequence, the Northern regime would be less defen- sive of its existence and more prepared to co-operate in the extended structures based on the pluralist nature of the communities living on this island (though still subordinate to Britain). The Oireachtas Article 15 relates to the national Parliament, the Oireachtas, and part of this Article will require modi- fication in order to allow the E.E.C. treaties and regula- tions to have self-executing effect in this country as required by the terms of membership. Article 16 regulates the composition of the Dáil and it would be possible to insert a section enabling a cer- tain proportion of members lawfully elected to the Houseof Commons at Stormont to be members, at the same time, of the Dáil. A similar modification of Article 18 relating to the Seanad could allow for representation by members of the Stormont Senate. This modification might not be necessary if the practice hopefully arose that the appropriate proportion of the Taoiseach's eleven nominees to the Seanad consisted of Senators to Stor- mont. At present, the Taoiseach has complete discretion as to the selection of such nominees, but the appropriate amendment could be a curtailment of that discretion to