Democracy in Ireland

Today in Contemporary Society we discussed the Ireland's democratic system of government. While the system is similar to that of the U.S., it does differ slightly. The country struggled for nearly 60 years to gain Home Rule, where they'll be able to govern themselves, instead of England. Here's the breakdown of some facts for you:

- In 1800, the Act of Union with Westminster did away with Home Rule, giving the British crown control over Ireland.
- Ireland's political parties:
Labour Party, Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Progressive Democrats, Sinn Fein, Green Party and Indepedents.
- Today's Dail (government) is comprised of 166 members. Breakdown of those members: Labour Party: 20
Fine Gael: 51
Fianna Fail: 78
Progressive Democrats: 2
Sinn Fein: 4
Green: 6
Independent: 5
- If any party were to have over 83 members in the Dail, they can practically run the country.

Other interesting facts: The current Irish President, Mary MacAleese, is the second consecutive female President. She's currently in her second 7-year term. The Irish president is really a figurehead, elected to represent all people, despite prior allegiance to any political party. But, is it really possible for someone to remain unbiased politically, after being elected to represent the people? The main head of the Irish democratic system is the Taoiseach (Prime Minister). Ireland's current Taoiseach is Brian Cowen. Each Taoiseach has to be elected first by the people and then second to the parliament by the representatives. While Irish government also has two houses, the system is bicameral and is more similar to the British Parliament than to the U.S.

We're scheduled to visit the Dail (pronounced Do-al) on Thursday for a field trip, and we'll hopefully get to speak with some of the politicians. After visiting Stormont, the home of northern Ireland's government, I'm interested to see how much the Dail differs from the northern system of government.