Sir, – I was interested to discover that Germany’s Basic Law – its equivalent of constitutional law – guarantees the right to minimum standards of social welfare, as outlined by Prof Aoife Nolan (“It is the job of the Government, not the courts, to protect rights”, Law Matters, January 7th).
Although it is not the German courts’ place to set the level for a welfare payment, it does oblige the German government to clarify the process by which it sets the levels of payments.
This kind of information would help make decision-making in Ireland more transparent and accountable. It would also ensure that people on the lowest incomes had a greater level of protection and put human rights at the heart of how economic decisions are made.
It is a template worth examining for use in Ireland. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Prof Aoife Nolan makes an important point when she criticises the failure of successive Irish governments to protect economic and social rights.
To those who argue that the Oireachtas, not the Constitution, is the place for decisions on economic policy, she argues that the EU fiscal pact has already enshrined economic policy in the Constitution, with its budget deficit requirement.
If we can put in place those kinds of constitutional protections, why not amend our Constitution to protect economic and social rights like health and housing, as happens elsewhere in Europe? – Is mise,