Suspension of agreement leaves Ahern in constitutional dilemma The Taoiseach has sound constitutional grounds for concern over the suspension of the Belfast Agreement, writes Geraldine Kennedy, Political Editor
From IRISH TIMES February 15th, 2000
Was the Taoiseach playing the Constitution card for his own political purposes
when he wrote in yesterday's Irish Times that the Constitution has no provision
for the unilateral suspension of the Belfast Agreement? Was he trying to
present a pannationalist front to bolster his argument that the British
government should set aside a few days for consultations between the IRA
and Gen de Chastelain rather than plunge the process into a review on the
exclusive issue of decommissioning? Was he anticipating that Sinn Fein would
not participate in such a review? Or was he invoking the Constitution in
a Machiavellian ploy to stave off a challenge in this State by Sinn Fein
to the constitutionality of the suspension of the institutions last Friday
night? Mr Ahern was probably doing all these things when he raised constitutional
concerns, for the first time, about the Northern Secretary's decision to
suspend the Executive, Assembly and other North-South and British-Irish
institutions against the wishes of the Government. He was fortifying his
case that if the suspension cannot be lifted and the arms issue cannot be
resolved definitively "over the coming days", the peace process will plummet
into an intractable crisis. Notwithstanding all of that, however, serious
constitutional issues have been raised by the suspension of the institutions.
Writing in The Irish Times, the Taoiseach said all parties to the Belfast
Agreement had particular concerns and responsibilities they must look to.
"For the Irish Government, these include our position as a State with a written constitution. That Constitution has now been amended to include the terms of the British-Irish Agreement, terms which do not expressly include provision for suspension. In that context, suspension raises issues of concern for the Government and any significant extension of it could make the situation more difficult." In order to examine whether there is any justification
for the Taoiseach's concerns, it is necessary to look back at the revolutionary
changes to the Constitution overwhelmingly endorsed by almost 95 per cent
of voters on May 22nd, 1998. Six amendments to the Constitution were put
to the people in the form of one single question on the ballot paper. Headed
"British-Irish Agreement", voters were asked: "Do you agree with the proposals in the 19th Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1998?" The amendments were
deliberately formulated in this way to prevent voters from picking and choosing.
People had one option - accept the Belfast Agreement, including the changes
to the emotive Articles 2 and 3, or reject it. It was proposed that all
of the six amendments would be placed, initially, as new Sections 7 and
8 of Article 29 of the Constitution, dealing with the State's international
relations. Section 7(i) permitted the State to be bound by the British-Irish
Agreement. Section 7(ii) allowed the institutions established under the
Belfast Agreement on Good Friday, particularly the North-South Ministerial
Council and the implementation bodies, to function with powers devolved
from the Dail. Section 7(iii) provided the Government with the power to
make a declaration that the agreement came into effect. The changes in Articles
2 and 3, dropping the territorial claim to the North, and the addition of
a new Section 8 to Article 29, could then be made. The new texts of Articles
2 and 3 would be set out here. Section 7(iv) was the legal mechanism provided
to move the new Articles 2 and 3 from their transitory position in Article
29 to replace the then Articles 2 and 3 if the Government certified that
the agreement had come into force. Section 7(v) provided that if the agreement
did not enter into force the amendment of Articles 2 and 3 would cease to
have effect after 12 months. The Government was empowered to extend this
12 months by law and, because of the slow progress in implementing the agreement,
it did so. Section 8 of Article 29 permitted the State to exercise extra-territorial
jurisdiction in accordance with the generally recognised principles of international
law. THE Government subsequently gave effect to the permanent amendment
of Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution in a ceremony in Iveagh House the
morning after the establishment of the first inclusive all-party government
in the North, when Mr David Trimble jumped first and Sinn Fein's two Ministers
took their part in the Northern Ireland Executive in early December. |
