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Professor Oran Doyle

Professor In (Law)
HOUSE 39, COLLEGE

 Oran.Doyle@tcd.ie

 3531896 1125


Biography

Oran Doyle is professor in law at Trinity College Dublin. He also holds a dual appointment as a research professor at the Academia Sinica in Taipei. He has held visiting positions at Bocconi University Milan, Keio University Tokyo and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Prof Doyle is an expert in comparative constitutional law, with a particular focus on the issues of constitutional amendment, territory and Irish unification. He is the author of 'The Irish Constitution: A Contextual Analysis' (Clarus, 2018) and (with Tom Hickey) 'Constitutional Law: Text, Cases and Materials' (Hart, 2019). He co-edited with Aileen McHarg and Jo Murkens 'The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom: Constitutions under Pressure' (2021). He has recently published in Global Constitutionalism, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the European Constitutional Law Review, and the German Law Journal. Prof Doyle is currently the PI for NSLMap, a New Foundations research project funded by the Irish Research Council and the Shared Island Initiative that maps the convergence and divergence of laws on either side of the Irish border. Currently supervising Alex Layden's work on informal constitutional change, and Juan Diego Galaz's work on constitutional rights of resistance and deliberation in Latin America, Prof Doyle welcomes applications for supervision from students broadly in the area of constitutional theory and comparative constitutional law. Prof Doyle is the co-chair of the British-Irish Chapter of the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) and co-convenor of the International Association of Constitutional Law research group on public law responses to public health emergencies. He was director of the COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory. The recipient of a Provost's Teaching Award, Prof Doyle has lectured constitutional law 1 and jurisprudence to undergraduate students, and comparative constitutional law and theory to postgraduate students. He has also led final year research project groups on democratic decay, emergencies, and constitutional change. Prof Doyle is a regular contributor to public debates on issues of constitutional law in Ireland. He has published articles in the Irish Times on both the Children's Rights Referendum and the Marriage Equality Referendum. In 2016-17, he was a constitutional law advisor to the Citizens' Assembly considering the pro-life provision in the Irish Constitution. He was a member of the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland and in February 2020, he convened a blog symposium on the IACL/IADC blog addressing the constitutional dimensions of Irish unification. https://tcd.academia.edu/OranDoyle http://ssrn.com/author=867538

Research Tags

  Comparative Constitutional Law   Constitutional Law   Jurisprudence

Research Projects

 Measures on Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

Representations

Details Date
Co-convenor of the International Association of Constitutional Law research group on public law responses to public health emergencies
Constitutional Law Advisor to Ireland's Citizens' Assembly 2016-2018
Co-Chair of the British-Irish Chapter of the International Society of Public Law 2017-present
Member of the International Society of Public Law Working Group on New Chapters 2018-present
Guest Editor special volume of the German Law Journal on Populism and Constitutionalism 2019
Global Associate Professor, Keio University, Tokyo 2018
Visiting Research Fellow, Bocconi University Milan 2017
Visiting research fellow at the Institutuum Jurisprudentiae of the Academia Sinica in Taipei. 2015
Member of the editorial board of the Dublin University Law Journal. 2009-present
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Constitutional Studies.
External Examiner, NUI Galway 2015-2019
External Examiner, Honorable Society of King's Inns 2007-2012
External Examiner, Griffith College Dublin 2008-2012

Languages

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Medium Basic Basic

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
Irish Jurisprudence Society 2007 Present
International Society of Public Law 2015 Present
Law and Society Association 2016 2017
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Constitutional Amendment and Public Will Formation: Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Tool for Consensus Democracy, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 20, 2022, Journal Article, ACCEPTED
Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg, Jo Murkens, The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom: Constitutions under Pressure, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, 1 - 338pp, Book, PUBLISHED
The Constitutional Politics of a United Ireland in, editor(s)Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg, Jo Murkins , Constitutions Under Pressure: The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the UK, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp129 - 152, [Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text
Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Response to Populist Democratic Backsliding in, editor(s)Maria Cahill, Colm O'Cinneide, Seán Ó Conaill and Conor O'Mahony , Constitutional Change and Popular Sovereignty: Populism, Politics and the Law in Ireland , London, Routledge, 2021, pp224 - 243, [Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
The Constitutional Tensions of Brexit in, editor(s)Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg and Jo Murkens , The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom: Constitutions under Pressure, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp1 - 18, [Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg and Jo Murkens], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden, The Franchise in Irish Unification Referendums, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 32, (2), 2021, p182 - 213, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Alan Renwick, Oran Doyle, John Garry, Paul Gillespie, Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Katy Hayward, Robert Hazell, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden, Brendan O'Leary, Etain Tannam, Alan Whysall , Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland: Final Report, Constitution Unit, University College London, May, 2021, p1 - 259, Report, PUBLISHED
Order from Chaos? Typologies and Models of Constitutional Change in, editor(s)Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou , Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Change, Abingdon on Thames, Routledge, 2020, pp45 - 60, [Oran Doyle], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Deliberation in Constitutional Amendment: Reappraising Ireland's Deliberative Mini-Publics, European Constitutional Law Review, 16, (3), 2020, p440 - 465, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Minority Rights and Democratic Consensus: The Irish Same-Sex Marriage Referendum, National Taiwan University Law Review, 15, (1), 2020, p21 - 48, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text
  

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Conor Casey, Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Donna Lyons, Ireland's Emergency Powers During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Dublin, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission , February, 2021, p1 - 104, Report, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle and Tom Hickey, Constitutional Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 2nd, Dublin, Clarus Press, 2019, 1 - 650pp, Book, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Beginnings: Taiwan and Ireland, World Congress of Taiwan Studies, Taipei, 7 September, 2018, Academia Sinica Taipei, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Approaches to Comparative Constitutional Law, Seminar on Comparative Constitutional Law, Hiroshima, 27 July, 2018, Law Faculty University of Hiroshima, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Populism and Democratic Theory, Congress of International Academy of Comparative Law, Fukuoka, 25 July, 2018, International Academy of Comparative Law, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Change in Ireland, Faculty Workshop, Tokyo, 10 July , 2018, Keio University Law School, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, The Constitutional Implications of Brexit, UK Italian Constitutional Law Conversation, London, 7 June, 2018, UK Constitutional Law Association and Italian Devolution Club, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, アイルランドの憲法変動, 法学セミナー, 467, 2018, p46 - 54, Notes: [Translated by Satoshi Yokodaido and Kodai Zukeyama], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Beginnings, Annual Conference of the International Society of Public Law, Hong Kong, 26 June, 2018, Meeting Abstract, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Change and Intergenerational Disagreement, Annual Conference of the Irish Association of Law Teachers, Athlone, 25 November, 2018, Meeting Abstract, PUBLISHED

  

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Awards and Honours

Award Date
Elected to Fellowship of the College 2010
Provost's Teaching Award 2008
Brookes Scholar, the Honourable Society of King's Inns 2002
Awarded Gold Medal in LLB Degree 1999
Scholar of Trinity College Dublin 1997

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

Prof Doyle is an expert on comparative constitutional law and theory, with a particular focus on foundational questions of constitutionalism: how are constitutions made? How do constitutions relate to a particular people and territory, particularly in contested cases of secession and territorial conflict? How are constitutions changed? In 2018, he published a monograph, 'The Constitution of Ireland: A Contextual Analysis' for Hart's series on Constitutional Systems of the World. This book provides the first analysis, richly informed by comparative study, of how the Irish Constitution as a whole operates in practice. Prof Doyle is currently collaborating with Prof Rachael Walsh on a number of papers related to Ireland's experiment with citizens' assemblies and how these may inform new approaches to constitutional amendment. In 'Deliberation in Constitutional Amendment: Reappraising Ireland's Deliberative Mini-Publics' (European Constitutional Law Review, 2020), they provide the first analysis of all recommendations for constitutional amendment made by Ireland's mini-publics and explore why some gained political traction while most did not. In 'Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Response to Populist Democratic Backsliding' (Constitutional Change and Popular Sovereignty: Populism, Politics and the Law in Ireland, Routledge, 2021), they interrogate suggestions that deliberative mini-publics could help stem democratic backsliding. In 'Constitutional Amendment and Public Will Formation: Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Tool for Consensus Democracy' (International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2022), they situate deliberative mini-publics within a theory of constitutional amendment and explore their potential and problems through an analysis of Ireland's Citizens' Assembly's recommendations on abortion. Developing from this work, Prof Doyle is currently preparing a monograph on constitutional amendment. This work will theorise the distinctive democratic value of constitutional amendment and deploy that theory to reassess key debates in the field: from the unconstitutional constitutional amendment doctrine to informal constitutional amendment.