Tadgh Quill-Manley is currently studying law at King’s Inns, Ireland. Feedback/comments are welcome at tadghquillmanley@yahoo.com.
Liam Mellows, a leading Irish revolutionary executed by the Irish Free State on 8 December 1922 at the age of 30, left behind a body of writings that articulated a radical but coherent vision for an Irish Republic. In ‘Notes from Mountjoy’ and strategic memoranda written in the last months of his life, Mellows warned that administrative independence alone would mean ‘a change of masters’ – the replacement of British capitalists by a domestic elite. He demanded that a Republic establish economic democracy by state ownership of the heavy industries, banks and transport, the confiscation and redistribution of large ranches and aristocratic estates, worker participation in the management of industry, shorter working days, and full maintenance for the unemployed at trade union rates.
Mellows made explicit reference to Wolfe Tone’s notion of the “men of no property” and to James Connolly’s republicanism. He saw property and employment relations not as neutral technical matters, but as sites of fundamental power. For Mellows, the only authentic republicanism was to put ownership and control of Ireland’s resources into the hands of the working people, so as to preclude the creation of new forms of exploitation.
This is in broad agreement with the constitutional framework of Bunreacht na hÉireann, which was adopted by the State in 1937. It recognises explicitly the natural right to private ownership of external goods, but qualifies it significantly: the exercise of these rights “ought, in civil society, to be regulated by the principles of social justice” and may be delimited by law to reconcile them with “the exigencies of the common good”. His proposal for redistribution of land and state control of resources subsequently held a constitutional basis. This also strengthens the idea that property rights are not absolute, but have to be in the service of broader social interests.
Such an approach remains deeply relevant to contemporary debates in property law and housing justice. It identified existing problems that the current Irish housing crisis exemplifies, such as high levels of land hoarding, speculative ownership, unoccupied and dilapidated properties, and ongoing affordability problems. These have been taken up by the Irish law reform bodies. The 2017 Issues Paper and the 2023 Report of the Law Reform Commission on the Compulsory Acquisition of Land recommend modernising the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) process to more effectively facilitate the delivery of housing and urban regeneration, while respecting the constitutional balance. It seeks to utilise Article 43’s principles of social justice to facilitate land acquisition for the common good.
Proposals from political and civil society actors also further echo Mellows’ demand that land be used for the common good. Community land trusts, state retention of land in affordable housing schemes and tougher measures to combat dereliction are all consistent with Mellows’ vision and Article 43’s directive that property rights be regulated for social justice. International studies on land redistribution and public land banking supports these approaches, showing benefits in affordability, productivity and social cohesion.
His ideas also question the existing framework of Irish property law. Proposals for land value taxation, which tax the unimproved value of land to discourage speculation, are consistent with his assessment of unearned private accumulation, and with Article 43’s social justice clause. Such tools could operationalise constitutional principles by curbing speculation, while generating revenue for public goods, especially against the backdrop of Ireland’s housing emergency.
Mellows’ emphasis on worker control and state responsibility for full employment offers a compelling framework in employment law. He suggested worker-state councils for the control of workshop conditions, and the assurance of useful work at fair wages. These are directly connected to unenumerated rights under Article 40.3 (personal rights) and Directive Principles of Social Policy under Article 45. The courts have recognised the right to earn a livelihood as an unenumerated personal right protected from unjust attack. This also requires the State to provide “an adequate means of livelihood” for citizens and to distribute ownership and control of material resources “as best to subserve the common good” – language that closely parallels Mellows’ economic republicanism.
However, Article 45 principles are guidelines for legislative policy, albeit non-justiciable. The OECD’s assessment of active labour market policies (ALMPs) in Ireland are partial steps in the direction of Mellows’ full employment goals. European models of worker board representation (co-determination) also offer evidence of benefits in job security and stability, in addition to constitutional protections for livelihood rights and collective bargaining.
Mellows’ analysis of the Irish Civil War was methodical and ideological. Under military pressure, he appealed to the anti-Treaty IRA to produce a clear social programme which would win the active support of workers and small farmers. He claimed that the Republic must be defined as the instrument of workers’ and peasants’ power. The consolidation of the Free State, which preserved many existing property and power relations, had largely sidelined these demands. Yet, his writings remind us that employment and property laws are never neutral; they either entrench or dismantle structures of inequality; and that Bunreacht na hÉireann itself currently offers tools (via Articles 43, 45 and unenumerated rights under Article 40.3) for transformative change.
Liam Mellows provides a historically informed, intellectual underpinning for transformative legal strategies that will appeal to both legal scholars and social justice advocates. This is especially the case in an age of entrenched wealth inequalities (as seen in Oxfam’s 2026 report on Ireland), housing precarity and debates over corporate governance, where his ideas underpin calls for reforming CPOs and community land trusts (Article 43), land value taxation, increased public housing, a right to housing, more robust collective bargaining rights, and active labour market policies (Articles 40.3 and 45). These measures see law as an active tool of social reform, rather than mere regulation of extant markets. His ideas challenge Irish legal thought over a century since his death to move beyond minimalist liberalism. This requires labour and property law that promote the common good and break down exploitation. These are a powerful call for us to realise such aims and address Ireland’s housing crisis, precariousness in the labour market, and wider inequality. We need to build a State that truly belongs to its underprivileged people through democratic control of economic life, and fully realising the social justice principles contained in Bunreacht na hÉireann.
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