Ireland, Church, and Emergency Legislation

This chapter examines the legal tools which in the context of the Republic of Ireland were used to introduce the militarisation of behaviours. The state relied on several legal instruments (for example, emergency legislation which was introduced without sufficient legal safeguards) and used the state institutions (including the criminal justice system) to incorporate that process. This process was introduced by the state with the help of the Catholic Church. The militarisation of behaviours is a powerful social control process that while enforced in Ireland made people submissive and forced them to conform to social rules governed together by the Irish state and the church. These two institutions were bound in a symbiotic relationship which allowed for that to happen. As a result, the church took over some of the state’s responsibilities in spheres of health, education, and welfare leading to an increased level of authority and power in the Republic of Ireland. These two institutions created conditions in which it was easier to subdue individuals and families (for example, by subjugating parents). Coercive confinement formed a part of that repressive system, and it was driven by monetary incentives (for example, thanks to proceeds from illegal adoption and forced labour). Within that context, females became a target of these institutions which meant that marital status and gender-related aspects influenced the life choices of women in Ireland. Overall, the militarisation of behaviours led the Irish state to form authoritarian-like conditions which very much resembled the authoritarianism of Ireland’s colonial past.