Sir, – There is a view, dating at least from the 1996 Report of the Constitutional Review Group, that a new Article should be inserted in the Constitution to confirm the establishment of the office of the Ombudsman, to provide for the independent exercise of its investigations and other functions in relation to administrative actions, as determined by law, and making provisions similar to those applying to the Comptroller and Auditor General (at Art 33).
Perhaps there should be a discussion in relation to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission having a constitutional status, and for the same reasons?
Interestingly, An Garda Síochána is not mentioned in current editions of Bunreacht Na hÉireann . However, there is a fleeting and transitional reference to "the Police Forces of the State" ("an Póilíos") in the 1937 text at Art 61, and this article (and others) were to be omitted from any official text of the Constitution published after the entry of the first President into office (Art 52.1). Nevertheless, Art 61 (and others) were to continue to have the force of law (Art 52.2).
Art 61 was to ensure the continuance of the Defence Forces and the Police Forces of Saorstát Éireann subsequent to the coming into operation of the 1937 Constitution. Does Art 61 exist? Does it definitively exist? – Yours, etc,
JOHN EVANS,
Barrister-at-Law,
Law Library,
Dublin 7.