The Constitution Review Group appointed by the Government last April has presented provisional reports on a number of its clauses, which have now been published. Covering such matters as the powers, of the Presidency, elections to Dail Eireann, international relations and the role of the Attorney General nine reports in all these are impressive pieces of analysis which set out clearly and cogently the issues and arguments involved.
Assuming the standard is sustained it is clear that the group is more than fulfilling its exacting mandate, "to review the Constitution, and in the light of this review, to establish those are as where constitutional change may be desirable or necessary, with a view toe assisting the all Party Committee on the Constitution, to be established by the Oireachtas, in its work". While the subjects treated are weighty indeed, many of the most difficult and controversial articles remain's to be dealt with in the final report. The Oireachtas' and all those concerned with and affected by the Constitution have reason to thank the review group for its thorough approach to its task.
A good example is its analysis of whether there is a case for changing the electoral system. A crisp examination concludes that while it delivers proportional results for political parties, dramatically disproportionate weight is given to men over women and to higher socio economic categories. Professional workers, employers, managers and salaried employees, for example, have a 76 per cent weighting in the Dail compared to 19 per cent in the adult population. This is the fault of the political parties and social structure rather than the system of elections, as the analysis points out. It goes on to examine types of electoral system before concluding that there is no case for a first past the post system and that possible alternatives should be drawn only from the family of PR list systems.
The combination of political, legal and constitutional analysis, combined with careful or cautious recommendations, can be seen in other sections of the report. It recommends little change in the powers and functioning of the Presidency, conscious of the need not to embroil the office in party politics In a careful analysis of the Attorney General's role it underlines the heavy workload, which requires some delegation, with the need to preserve the structure of accountability to the Taoiseach rather than the Oireachtas. Comparative legal analysis comes into its own in the reports on Articles 26 and 34 of the Constitution dealing with the Constitutionality of Bills and Laws, where significant changes are suggested.
It is not possible to draw conclusions from this report about the overall thrust of the Constitution Review Group's final conclusions. But a good start has been made its findings on central matters such as the family, private property and the role of women will be awaited with great interest.