Constitution should seek to limit power of Government

IT seems to me that the proposed changes to the Constitution will be unconstitutional. At the outset, we should be aware that the new wording is totally at odds with the point of a Constitution.

The purpose of a Constitution is to place legal restrictions on the power of the Government.

For instance, the right to private property is enshrined in our Constitution so no government can have a law passed to enable it to take away anyone’s dwelling or other property. It also places limits on political parties’ time in government, so that a new administration can be formed.

It can be clearly seen that this proposed constitutional amendment places no restriction of any kind on the Government. The drafters of the Constitution openly took inspiration from Catholic social teaching to set a solid social foundation for the young Irish State, in particular regarding the family. Article 41.1 recognises the family at constitutional level as the cornerstone of society.

Article 41.3.1 states: ‘The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack.’ The Government seems intent on deleting this article.

Article 41.2 is to be replaced by: ‘The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives society a support...’

The woman, the mother in the home, instinctively bonds with their children from the very beginning of their lives, knowing she will give them all the care that they need. The same with the father, providing for them, whereas other family members do not have the same bonds and instincts as the mother, their care being intermittent and not durable due to other cares they may have.

Article 41.2 has over the years been the target for feminists and liberal critiques. The great irony is that people are being asked to vote to remove the only mention of woman in the Constitution on International Women’s Day. This is not the first attempt at deleting the word woman from official documents in Ireland. We have seen a cross-government effort in recent years to ‘modernise’ language, removing references to women from maternity literature in order to replace them with terms such as ‘birthing people’. Liberalism now pervades all facets of Irish society including Catholicism, with a false understanding of true Catholic doctrine. Rebuilding the family in Irish society will only happen by studying and knowing the richness of our Catholic teachings on marriage and family. JAMES B. O’BRIEN, Donegal.

Sinn Féin back on top

SUPPORT for Sinn Féin has bounced back after a temporary slump. In particular, the younger generation have provided the biggest rise in support for the party.

The Government parties will be very concerned that there is no increase in their backing. Issues such as housing, overcrowding in hospitals, people dying on our streets and the quotas on our fishing industry are of great concern to our electorate. NOEL HARRINGTON,

Kinsale, Co. Cork.

Make a Swift exit, guys

YOU wouldn’t want to touch Liz Jones or Taylor Swift with a bargepole (Mail). Kiss-and-tell must be the worst trait a person can sink to, male or female.

PAUL CONSTABLE, by email.

Car safety concern

MY cousin came for a visit last year from the UK with her grandchildren. When she got here, she hired a car, but had to purchase a child safety seat for the protection of her grandchildren.

Surely in this day and age, carhire companies should be required by law to provide these seats.

The RSA and the HSE should look into this immediately.

JOHN FAIR, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.