In 1949, almost offhandedly, we declared our State a Republic. Remarkably, nobody seems to have thought that this should have prompted a long, cold, hard look at the Constitution. I say remarkably, because the Constitution we still have was not then and is not still in any meaningful sense the constitution of a Republic. The 1937 constitution has remained, with some notable exceptions, remarkably unchanged since it was adopted. In many ways it is a source of pride for the Irish, one of the few European democracies to avoid dictatorship during the Twentieth Century. But that lack of change means that it is now outpaced by modern society and radical revision of the Irish Constitution is now fast becoming not only desirable, but essential. Embracing a wide range of views, Foundation Stone: Notes towards a Constitution For a 21st Century Republic, is a shot across the bows of the ongoing constitution convention. It rejects the cosy and complacent notion that all our constitution needs is a small bit of tweaking, instead proposing bold and radical action.