Dublin, Home of the Irish Government

As Dublin is the Capital City of Ireland it has the privilege of housing the Irish Government. The Houses of the Oireacthas or National Parliament is made up of the President, Dail Eireann (House of Representatives) and Seanad Eireann (Senate).

In earlier posts of this blog I have given an insight in the President and where they reside but today I will explain the office of the President, the Dail and the Seanad.

   

The President is the Supreme Commander of the Irish Defence Forces and representatives all of the Irish people in official functions both home and away. The president's role in Government is set out in the Irish Constitution but they have no input into policy decisions. The president appoints the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the country who has been elected by Dail Eireann. Then based on the advice of the Taoiseach the President will appoint all the ministers who work in the Government. They also dissolve the Dail on the advice of the Taoiseach at the end of a term or when the government has no majority to govern any more. At times, if the Government has no majority, the President might instruct the out-going Taoiseach or indeed the opposition leader to try to form a Government.

The President is also responsible for the appointing Judges, Attorney General and Commissioned Officers of the Defence Forces bases on advice from the Government.

The President must also sign bills passed by the Dail and Seanad into law between the 5th and 7th day after it is presented to them but he / she can sign it sooner to have the new law enacted quicker. On occasions the President may think that a bill that has been presented to them may go against the constitution and they may therefore ask the Supreme Court to make a judgement to ensure that the law is correct.

   

The Dail or the House of Representatives, consists of 166 members or Teachtai Dala or TD's who are elected in the 43 constituencies of Ireland, of which 12 are in Dublin. There is a review of all constituencies after every Irish Census to ensure that the correct balance of TD to voting population is correct.

Dail Chambers

Constituencies

These TD's are elected by the Irish People in a General Election, after the Dail has been dissolved by the President, or via a bye election, following the death or retirement of a standing TD. In Ireland the vote is carried out using PR STV (Proportional Representation Single Transferable Vote) as explained by ACE The Electoral Network

The first Dail meeting was held in the Mansion House (Home of the Lord Mayor of Dublin) in January 1919 where the Irish Constitution was adopted by the members and the Declaration of Independence was approved.

The 166 members of the Dail meet in the chambers every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday where they discuss different topics and laws and vote on the same to get news laws enacted. Most of the detailed work on new bills and laws are completed by the relevant government departments and are introduced to the Dail as and when ready or required.

   

The Seanad or Senate is made up of 60 senators who are chosen as follows

     

• 43 elected by five panels representing vocational interests namely, Culture and Education, Agriculture, Labour, Industry and Commerce and Public Administration
• 6 elected by the graduates of two universities: - three each by the National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin (Trinity College)
• 11 nominated by the Taoiseach.   

The senators debate and pass bills sent to it by the Dail but have no real authority in determining what laws should be enacted. The current Government has agreed to a review of the Seanad with the possibility that it may be scrapped in order to streamline the political process in the country.

Wales Win

In a qualifier for the 2012 European Championship last night Ireland had a 2-0 win in Andorra and will now face Armenia in the final group match needing just a draw to qualify for a play-off game to make the finals.

   

Earlier today (6am) our Rugby world cup odyessy came to an end with a 22 -10 defeat by Wales. Wales were the better team on the day and they go forward to meet France in the semi-final. Good Luck to Wales next week.

More Facts and Places of Interest

Dublin Fact: Dublin's main street is O'Connell Street and it primarily houses retail and recreational buildings. It is one of the widest main streets in Europe and O'Connell Bridge or Carlisle Bridge linking the north and south side of Dublin has a greater width than length which is unique for bridges anywhere in Europe.

O'Connell Street was originally called Drogheda Street by the then owner of the area on which the street sits. The man in question was Henry Moore, Earl of Drogheda who built roads or streets through his land. Not a vain character he called some of these streets after himself and in Dublin there are still streets called Henry, Moore and Earl and a lane called Off lane (previously of).

The Spire Dublin.

In 1740 or there abouts some of the land was purchased by Luke Gardiner and he modified Drogheda Street to the width it is today. He renamed the street to Sackville Street after the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Duke of Dorset.

Carlisle Bride was built on a design by James Gandon and opened in 1793 for pedestrians and then for all traffic in 1795.

Following the creation of the Irish Free State in December 1922 Sackville Street was renamed again, this time to O'Connell Street after Daniel O'Connell who was great Irish Catholic leader in the 1800's.

The Dublin Spire which is the Tallest Sculpture in the world was erected in Dublin's O'Connell Street in January 2003. The official name for the sculpture is the Monument of Light and was designed by Ian Ritchie Architects.

Places Of Interest:  In the heart of Dublin just off Dame Street you will find Dublin Castle. Dublin actually gets it's name from a Black Pool (Dubh Linn) which was on the site of the gardens now in Dublin Castle. The site of the Castle has had some form of structure in place since 930 from the Viking era. This is truely a remarkable piece of history and is well worth a visit.

Dublin Castle

On October 7th and 8th this year Dublin Castle will be the venue for the second Irish Global Economic Forum. This forum is being hosted by the Irish Government and according to the Department of Foreign Affairs the primary purpose of the forum will be to

Engage fully with the Irish Diaspora in developing Ireland’s global business and trade relations;

Discuss face-to-face the Government’s priorities for economic renewal with key members of the international business community;

Strengthen ties with the Irish Diaspora as a key part of the Government’s efforts to restore Ireland’s international reputation abroad.

The forum will be attended by people form the Global Irish Network of which there are over 300 members, a small number of Irish based individuals from business and cultural areas, Irish Government leaders and Ministers and also senior pepole form Government Departments and Agencies.
Keep up to date with events form the forum at Global Forum.

By the way Ireland beat Italy in the Rugby World Cup to set up a last 8 meeting with nearest neighbours Wales at 6am Irish time on Saturday next.

Dublin Facts and the Presidential Election 2011

In Ireland, according to the Constitution of Ireland (pdf file from Government office) if you are over 35 years and an Irish citizen you can try to get nominated to become President, provided you have not been President for 14 years or 2 terms of office. There are 3 possible ways to be nominated listed in the constitution

1. Get 20 members of the Oireachtas (Houses of the Government) to nominate you.
2. Get 4 of the local councils to nominate you.
3. If you are president of the Ireland and have served 7 years or 1 term of office you can nominate yourself.

As the current president Mary McAleese is not allowed to go forward having spent the past 14 years in office so an election needs to take place.

With a deadline of 12:00 noon on September 28th as the cut off for nominations we have 7 people in the race

• Michael D Higgins a member of the Labour Party with party nomination.
• Gay Mitchell a member of Fine Gale Party with party nomination.
• Martin McGuinness a member of the Sinn Fein Party with party, plus 4 independent Parliament members nomination.
• Mary Davis independent candidate with local council nomination.
• Seán Gallagher independent candidate with local council nomination.
• Dana Rosemary Scallon independent candidate with council nomination.
• David Norris  independent candidate with local council nomination.

Dublin Facts: Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that the population of Dublin in April of this year was 1,270,603 people of which 618,541 are male which is 33,521 less than females. This is a 7% increase on the population count of 2006. The population of Dublin has risen from 505,654 in 1926 to the current level of 1.27million having broken the 1million barrier in 1981.