While the Cairt and Bunreacht are technical documents with detailed descriptions of how the body might function, this page aims to give a simple description of the structure of the body.

Our ancestors lived in tuatha - self-sufficient economic units made of of families. Those families elected a taoiseach to protect them. There were hundreds of tuatha throughout the island. There was no centralised government and nobody had the lawful authority to compel another to do anything to which they did not consent. Despite the lack of a central government there were kings of the provinces and a high-king and the people had a strong sense of common identity. 

What we now call brehon law was the highly sophisticated customary code by which families dealt with each other with a the aim of removing conflict and restoring harmonious relations in the tuath. In more complicated cases the parties to a dispute might consult a brehon to adjudicate. There were negative consequences for a brehon who did not deliver the fairest possible judgement. In this way the "law" emerged from the people and could never be imposed from above by a chieftain or king. There were no prisons or policy-enforcers. Judgements were enforced through social pressure. A family who did not comply would be ostracised by the tuath until they made restitution. This may seem idealistic to the modern mind but the system was remarkably stable for at least a thousand years. It was already ancient in the time of St, Patrick, it remained in widespread use until the 1600s and it was even acknowledged as late as the 1930s.

While the above is a somewhat idealised account of the old ways - life did not always play out in line with the ideal and there were aspects that many would find disagreeable today - we believe that if we wish to build an alternative to the existing oppressive system we need only look back to how our ancestors dealt with eachother.

Tuatha Érenn is a model based on that political structure and system of law. In time we hope to have hundreds of tuatha made up of around 1500 men and women throughout the island. Each tuath would be able to provide the essentials its families require for a comfortable life - food, shelter, care, clothing etc - as well as more luxury goods and services. This does not mean abandoning the benefits of modern life - one can continue to operate in both worlds. In the fullness of time we aim to develop indigenous industry and technology to a high level while protecting the people and land from excessive pollution.

However, in the beginning, there will be only one tuath - Tuatha Érenn. It will be made up of all the men and women who join us in the early days. As the numbers grow - and depending on the location of those souls - the central body will devolve into the coiced - the five provincial bodies of meath, leinster, munster, connaught, and ulster. As the numbers grow in the provinces they will in turn devolve into tuatha.
 
The tuatha exist to protect the constituent families and allow them to coordinate to achieve their goals. They never have authority over them. Similarly the provincial bodies exist to protect and coordinate the tuatha, never to control them. And the national body - Tuatha Érenn - continues to exist to protect and coordinate the provinces, never to control them. This is a hierarchy of responsibility - never one of authority. A higher body cannot initiate any action because it "has a mandate". All action is initiated by the families and decided upon by the families. No family is bound to adhere to the decision of any upper body. They remain free. At the same time, other families are free to limit their dealings with a family who they feel are acting against the interest of the tuath.

Each tier of the body - from tuath to national body - will have an elected council, with different office holders responsible for protecting the families from the state courts and protecting the body as a whole from outside threats. These offices aim to put the fruits of one's labour, one's hearth (what the state describes as a "dwelling") and one's very body beyond the jurisdiction of the state (except in cases of actual criminal harm).

We will operate our own courts along Brehon principles for our members.

We aim to restore Irish as the spoken language of our people as a matter of urgency.

We bear no historic grudge and extend the hand of friendship to all men and women of goodwill on this island and on the island of Britain and the surrounding islands. We offer whatever help we can give to those who would like to set up a similar body rooted in their own heritage.