Power attracts those who should not hold it. Among the most persistent and serious threats to any nation is not the enemy at the border but the person within its own institutions who holds power without conscience — who manipulates, deceives, exploits, and harms not from weakness or circumstance but from a fundamental and enduring orientation toward the domination and use of others. This constitution names that threat directly and addresses it.
No person assessed by an independent clinical panel as meeting established diagnostic criteria for psychopathy, malignant narcissism, or antisocial personality disorder — where that assessment is based on documented behavioural evidence and conducted with full procedural rigour — shall be eligible to hold any public office, any position of authority within the state, any judicial appointment, any senior role in An Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces, or any position of institutional power over others.
This exclusion is not a punishment. It is a recognition that certain psychological profiles are incompatible with the responsible exercise of power over others. It carries no moral condemnation beyond that recognition.
The following principles govern the assessment process and are constitutionally mandatory:
Assessment shall be conducted only by a panel of no fewer than three independent clinical psychologists or psychiatrists of established professional standing, appointed by the Citizens’ Assembly established in Article 96, with no connection to any political party, government body, or institution with an interest in the outcome.
Assessment shall be triggered only by a formal referral from the independent oversight body established in Article 88, based on documented behavioural evidence — a pattern of conduct demonstrably consistent with the relevant diagnostic criteria. It shall never be triggered by political disagreement, unpopular opinions, unconventional behaviour, or the desire of political opponents to remove a rival.
The person being assessed shall have full knowledge of the process, full access to independent legal and clinical representation, and the full right to challenge any finding before an independent tribunal.
Assessments shall be conducted according to internationally established diagnostic criteria only. No novel, ideologically derived, or politically motivated diagnostic framework shall be used.
A finding of exclusion requires the unanimous agreement of all panel members. A split finding shall result in no exclusion.
Any finding of exclusion is subject to appeal before an independent judicial tribunal. The burden of proof lies with those seeking exclusion, not with the person being assessed.
Any clinician, official, or member of the oversight body who participates in or facilitates an assessment process not genuinely and solely grounded in clinical evidence commits a serious constitutional offence and is subject to the full consequences established in Article 97.
No person currently holding public office is exempt from this process. Where a person currently in office is found to meet the exclusion criteria, they shall be removed immediately upon conclusion of any appeal.
This article exists not to persecute the unusual, the difficult, or the unpopular. It exists because Ireland has learned, at great cost, what happens when people without conscience reach positions of power over others. It shall not happen again.