Book Reviews O'Flaherty, Michael, and Liz Heffernan. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: International Human Rights Law in Ireland. Dublin: Brehon Publishing, 1995. Pp. xxvii, 206. Index. Ireland ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1989. Since the state's inception, its external political profile has been characterized by a rhetorical commitment to rights protection and an activist position on human rights concerns in its membership of international and regional human rights organizations. External rhetoric stood in marked contrast to internal constitutional arrangements, whose effect was to stymie the rights of minorities, rigidify a relationship between church and state and suppress due process rights under the cloak of a permanent emergency. O'Flaherty and Heffernan's book comes at a critical juncture, where it is possible to evaluate whether Ireland's ratification of the Covenant is merely a means of receiving easy accolades for an empty gesture, or the product of genuine self-analysis and internationalization. The book offers a useful insight into the process whereby Ireland has moved towards integrating itself more centrally into the international human rights community. However, it lacks systematic treatment of the unique problems that have undermined rights protection in the Irish jurisdiction, with scant historical or political analysis within which to contextualize the state position. Chapter 1 engages in a succinct and informative introduction to the Covenant and its implementation mechanisms. Chapter 2 is central to the project of the book, outlining both the structure of legal protection for human rights in Ireland and the compatibility of the legal order with the rights enumerated in the Covenant. While the authors identify the rights protected by the Irish Constitution, they do not elucidate upon the many rights-based controversies that have dogged the unique conception of rights related to family life, marriage, education, the status of the Catholic Church, limitations upon freedom of expression and the right to jury trial in the jurisdiction. What makes the Irish experience unique to many observers is the negotiation inherent in a tradition-based society with formal godly-based values, coming to terms with a culture of non-discrimination and formal equality. The lack of this dimension means that the analysis loses depth and fails to reflect upon the singularity of the Irish rights experience. While Chapter 2 acknowledges that the Irish Constitution allows for derogation from constitutional protection of rights, the consequences for Irish legal culture of a 55-year permanent emergency is not explored. One of the difficulties in evaluating the use of emergency powers in the Irish Republic has been the use of the ordinary criminal process of the state to absorb and normalize draconian measures designed to limit the exercise of individual rights. Thus, meaningful ratification of the Covenant would require a root and branch examination of the state's legal structure to ensure that substance and not showmanship is the end sought by endorsement of the Covenant. The book offers a welcome insight into Ireland's first reporting exercise to the Human Rights Committee. For the uninitiated, detailed accounts of the workings of the Optional Protocol and its comparative European Convention mechanisms are provided. The information will be of particular relevance to NGOs and those actively engaged in the human rights field in Ireland. Overall, the book provides a useful snapshot of an Irish embrace of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Its failure to provide a more comprehensive critique of the rights debate in the jurisdiction is its primary limitation, allowing no insight into the long-term reception that absorption of the Covenant may have on domestic law and policy. Dr. Fionnuala Ni Aolain Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
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