The Constitution Review Group was a group established by the

Irish government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...

in 1995 to review the Constitution of Ireland and to recommend alterations. The group was

chaired The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

T. K. Whitaker Thomas Kenneth Whitaker (8 December 1916 – 9 January 2017) was an Irish economist, politician, diplomat and civil servant who served as Secretary (administrative head) of Ireland’s Department of Finance from 1956 to 1969, as Governor of the ...

and had fifteen members selected from different backgrounds, though lawyers predominated. The

terms of reference Terms of reference (TOR) define the purpose and structures of a project, committee, meeting, negotiation, or any similar collection of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal. Terms of reference show how the object in ...

for the Group were:

...to review the Constitution, and in the light of this review, to establish those areas where constitutional change may be desirable or necessary, with a view to assisting the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, to be established by the
Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...
, in its work.

The Group was excused by its terms of reference from considering

Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland Article 2 and Article 3 of the Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann) were adopted with the Constitution of Ireland as a whole on 29 December 1937, but revised completely by means of the Nineteenth Amendment which became effectiv ...

and matters relating to

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

confidentiality. The ''Report of the Constitution Review Group'' was published in July 1996 and ran to 700 pages. This is said to be the most thorough analysis of the Constitution of Ireland ever made.

References

Politics of Ireland Constitution of Ireland {{Republic-of-Ireland-politics-stub