Ireland’s Hidden Constitutional Crisis: Power, Silence, and the Battle for Democracy
Author: Dr Cora M. Stack
Description:
A silent constitutional crisis is taking place in Ireland — one that tests the limits of political power, the independence of the courts, and the freedom of the press.
In this landmark documentary, Dr Cora M. Stack — award-winning academic and public policy and legal scholar and researcher — examines her High Court challenge, Stack v The State. The case asks a crucial question:
Can political parties lawfully use the party whip to control how councillors and members of the Oireachtas nominate candidates for the presidency?
At stake is the right of conscience and the separation of powers at the heart of Bunreacht na hÉireann. Through calm and careful analysis, the film explores how party control, executive power, and media silence have converged to threaten the constitutional balance of the Republic.
It investigates:
• The constitutional limits of the party whip in presidential nominations
• The High Court’s duty to protect representative independence
• Judicial autonomy and the separation of powers
• The role of the Protected Disclosures Act (2014, 2022) and the EU Whistleblower Directive (2019/1937)
• The new EU Media Freedom Act (2024/1094) and the right to transparent journalism
• The press’s constitutional duty under Article 40.6.1° (i) to educate and inform the public
• How silence in the media enables power to go unchecked
This challenge is more than a legal question. It is a test of Ireland’s democratic conscience.
If party control extends into presidential nominations, representative freedom collapses quietly behind closed doors.
If the executive filters what can be disclosed by whistleblowers or journalists, truth itself becomes conditional.
And when the press is silent, power operates without scrutiny.
Credit to : Dr Cora Stack