The Irish President, the New Zealand Governor-General and the Head of State in a Future New Zealand Republic

Abstract

This article considers critically the design of the office of President of Ireland, as provided in the Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na hEireann), and the design of the office of Governor-General of New Zealand, as provided in the Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor-General 1983 (as amended), 1 with a view to advancing suggestions inspired by the Irish design for the improvement of the design of the current office of Governor-General. The Irish experience also provides pointers as to a possible design for the office of head of state should New Zealand move from being a constitutional monarchy to a democratic republic. The Irish design is being looked to because Ireland: is a modern western democracy with a population similar to that of New Zealand; 2 like New Zealand, was formerly a constitutional monarchy with dominion status; and has a system of government which is based on that at Westminster. Also, although it has been criticized, 3 the Irish presidential design model has worked effectively as part of a stable system of government since 1937. 4 For reasons of convenience in this article the new head of state in a possible New Zealand republic will also be called the "President". The article is not written to advocate that New Zealand should become a republic. However, if New Zealand were at the point of seriously contemplating changing to a republic, those responsible for recommending the design of the office of head of state may want to ...