“We, the people of Éire”: la cittadinanza nell’evoluzione e nell’attualità costituzionale dell’Irlanda

“We, the people of Éire”: citizenship in the constitutional evolution and present of Ireland

Abstract

During the first century since the independence, citizenship has always represented a central issue of the constitutional system of Ireland, and a very useful lens for reading the internal and international political dynamics but also the social and economic changes having shaped the country. The purpose of this article is to analyse the evolution and the present of the rules on citizenship in Ireland, dividing the work into three parts dedicated to different relevant phases: citizenship as a tool for the creation of the Irish State (1922-1937); citizenship as a tool for the creation of the Irish nation (1937-1998); citizenship in the new millennium (1998-…). The article closes with some reflections on the possibility that citizenship absorbs, in perspective, the pressures deriving from the current and virtual changes in course in the islands of Great Britain and Ireland.