COUNTRY PERSPECTIVE
The shortest useful version of how power works here.
The government must retain the confidence of Dáil Éireann.
The government must retain the confidence of Dáil Éireann. The Taoiseach and cabinet emerge from the parliamentary majority or agreements capable of sustaining a government in the Dáil.
The Oireachtas makes laws and holds government to account.
The Oireachtas makes laws and holds government to account. The Seanad can revise and delay most legislation, but the Dáil has the stronger democratic and financial role.
The president has a mainly constitutional role and may refer certain bills to the Supreme Court for a constitutional decision.
The president has a mainly constitutional role and may refer certain bills to the Supreme Court for a constitutional decision. Constitutional amendments require approval by referendum.
Some political words change meaning across countries. These are the distinctions worth knowing first.
“Republican” in Irish politics is strongly connected to Irish nationalism, constitutional status and the history of partition; it does not mean the same thing as “Republican” in US party politics.
Two historically dominant parties emerged from opposing sides of the civil-war split rather than a simple left–right division.
Two historically dominant parties emerged from opposing sides of the civil-war split rather than a simple left–right division. Contemporary economic and social competition increasingly overlays that older cleavage.
Enough structure to make the rest of the page intelligible.
Only the events that help explain how today’s system got here.
The Irish Free State was created after the independence struggle and Anglo-Irish Treaty, while Northern Ireland remained in the United Kingdom.
Bunreacht na hÉireann established the present constitutional institutions and was approved by referendum.
The Republic of Ireland Act ended the remaining external role of the British Crown in the state’s international relations.
Ireland joined the European Communities following a referendum.
Current-data work still open: Current office holders · Current Dáil and Seanad composition and party profiles · Latest election and turnout · Democracy, rights and civic-space dimensions · Long-term indicator trends