Kevin Lee from Ballysadare in Sligo has drafted an alternative constitution for Ireland.
When Ballysadare man Kevin Lee was made redundant he began to use the long winter evenings to write an alternative to the Constitution of Ireland. With so many challenges and amendments being made to the 1937 Constitution, he felt the time was right for a complete rewrite of this legal document.
Kevin Lee has some radical ideas. He believes the office of Taoiseach should be scrapped, presidential powers widened, and overall authority in the country next to the president, would be a National Assembly.
To prepare for the task, Kevin Lee re-read the Constitution of Ireland several times. He obtained copies of constitutions from other countries, such as Canada, the United States, Sweden, Germany and Turkey. Then he studied the Bible, specifically the Gospels because,
Whatever I should write it should never be in conflict with the written word of Christ.
The fruit of Kevin Lee's labour is a new, 50 page constitution, largely consisting of new material. In his alternative, neither divorce nor abortion are legal. On the issue of divorce, Kevin Lee took his lead from the Gospel of Matthew,
Chapter 19 clearly states the issue and makes it quite clear for us where the church stands, Christ stands, on the issue of divorce.
For this reason he has not included divorce in his version of the constitution. He believes,
It’s the wish of the Irish people not to allow divorce to be brought into this country.
Under the Constitution written by Kevin Lee marital breakdown would be dealt with in special family courts.
He does not think writing a new constitution is a strange way to pass the time because it needs to be done.
I think there a lot of meat on the bone of this constitution.
He would be interested in seeing his work published so that people would be able to read it.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 8 January 1985. The reporter is Tommie Gorman.
