Recognising Freedom of Thought in Irish Constitutional Law

What is it about?

Although there is no formal recognition of freedom of thought in the text of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, I will argue that such a right does exist in Irish law on the basis of both implicit and tentatively explicit recognition for freedom of thought in the decisions of the superior courts. I will also argue that this is a good thing: freedom of thought should be protected by the Irish Constitution because freedom of thought is central to humanness and vital for freedom in a flourishing democracy. The kinds of challenges that endanger freedom of thought are not confined to the establishment of thought crimes (which we may have a naïve expectation would never happen in our own corners of the world), but are more pervasive and pressing in our time, given the possible ramifications of techniques such as neuroimaging, neuromarketing and neuroenhancement, deep brain stimulation and transcranial magnet stimulation as well as non-voluntary psychiatric intervention. These pressing circumstances give us an (urgent) opportunity to remind ourselves of and to re-articulate for our contemporary world the reasons why freedom of thought ought to be protected by law.

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