Constitution and Government
of Ireland
CONTENTS
CONSTITUTION
Ireland is a parliamentary democracy. The National Parliament (in
the Irish language, Oireachtas) consists of the President (an
tUachtarán) and two Houses: a House of Representatives (Dáil
Éireann) and a Senate (Seanad Éireann). The sole and exclusive
power of making laws for the State is vested in Parliament. The
functions and powers of the President, Dáil and Seanad derive
from the Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hÉireann) and
law.
The Constitution of Ireland is the basic law of the State. It was
adopted by plebiscite in 1937. It is the successor of the
Constitution of Dáil Éireann (1919) and the Constitution of the
Irish Free State (1922). The Constitution states that all
legislative, executive and judicial powers of Government derive
from the people. It sets out the form of government and defines
the powers of the President, the two Houses of the Oireachtas and
the Government. It also defines the structure and powers of the
courts, sets out the fundamental rights of citizens and contains
a number of directive principles of social policy for the general
guidance of the Oireachtas. The Constitution may be amended only
by referendum.
The Constitution outlines what are considered the fundamental
rights of the citizen. The definition of rights in the
Constitution covers five broad headings: personal rights, the
family, education, private property and religion.
Personal Rights: the Constitution declares that all
citizens are equal before the law; it guarantees to defend and
vindicate the personal rights of citizens in its laws: it
provides that there will be no deprivation of personal liberty
except in accordance with law; it provides for the right to
'habeas corpus'; it guarantees the inviolability of citizens'
dwellings except in accordance with law; and it guarantees,
subject to public order and morality, liberty to express freely
one's convictions and opinions, the right to assemble peaceably
and without arms, and the right to form associations and unions.
The Family: the State recognises the family as a moral
institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights,
and guarantees to protect it and the institution of marriage.
Education: the State recognises the primacy of the family
in the education of children and undertakes to provide for free
primary education and to supplement and aid private educational
initiative, with due regard to the rights of the parents.
Private Property: the right to own private property is
guaranteed and its exercise is subject only to the exigencies of
the common good.
Religion: the Constitution guarantees freedom of
conscience and the free profession and practice of religion,
subject only to public order and morality.
Unenumerated Rights: In addition to the foregoing personal
rights specifically provided for in the words of the
Constitution, the Courts have held in a series of cases that
there are other personal rights whose existence "result(s)
from the Christian and democratic nature of the State", and
which are implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Courts have ruled that these unenumerated personal rights
include:
The right to bodily integrity, the right not to have one's health
endangered by the State, the (qualified) right to work and to
earn a livelihood, the right to marital privacy, the right of
access to the courts, the right of the citizen to sue the State
in court, the right to justice and fair procedures, the right to
travel within and without the State, the right to marry, the
rights of the unmarried mother in regard to her child.
This list is not exhaustive and it is also likely that the Courts
will identify more, as yet unenumerated, personal rights in
future.
Citizens, and in certain cases non-citizens, have the right to
apply to the courts to protect from infringement their rights
under the Constitution or to have a judgement pronounced as to
whether legislation is compatible with the Constitution, provided
the legislation affects, or is likely to affect, the person
challenging it. Moreover, the President may before signing a Bill
refer it to the Supreme Court for a decision on its compatibility
with the Constitution. These procedures have been employed on a
number of occasions.
THE PRESIDENT
The President is the Head of State. S/he acts on the advice and authority of the Government
but performs a limited number of functions after consultation
with an advisory Council of State. S/hereceives and accredits
Ambassadors. Every law made by Parliament is promulgated by him/her.
Bills passed by both Houses of Parliament require his/her signature
for their enactment into law. S/he may, before signing a Bill,
seek a Supreme Court ruling on whether it is repugnant to the
Constitution .
On the nomination of the Dáil the President appoints the
Taoiseach (Head of Government). On the advice of the Taoiseach
and with prior approval of the Dáil, S/he appoints the other
members of the Government. On the advice of the Taoiseach she
accepts the resignation or terminates the appointment of members
of Government and summons and dissolves the Dáil, but S/he has
discretionary power to refuse to dissolve the Dáil on the advice
of a Taoiseach who has ceased to retain the support of the
majority in the Dáil. This power, which has not so far been
exercised, would force the Taoiseach to resign and give the Dáil
the opportunity to nominate a successor.
The supreme command of the Defence Forces is vested in the
President. S/he is not answerable to either House of Parliament or
to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and
functions of her office. S/he may, however, be impeached for
stated misbehaviour.
Any Irish citizen of 35 years of age may stand for the office of
President. The President is elected by direct vote of the people
every seven years. A President may not serve for more than two
terms.
THE LEGISLATUTE
Dáil Éireann
The Dáil nominates the Taoiseach and approves the nomination (by
the Taoiseach) of the other members of the Government. The
Government is responsible to the Dáil for the Departments of
State administered by its members. Not more than two Ministers
may be members of the Seanad. The Taoiseach, Tánaiste (Deputy
Prime Minister) and Minister for Finance must be members of the
Dáil as must all other Ministers who are not members of the
Seanad.
The Government presents its proposals to the Oireachtas (either
Dáil or Seanad) in the form of Bills or Motions which the Houses
debate, amend if they so desire, and decide on, if necessary by a
vote. These Bills go through five stages in the House in which
they are initiated. Following its presentation or introduction
(first stage), the general principles of the Bill are debated
(second stage) and, if a second reading is agreed to, the Bill is
then considered in committee, which is usually a committee of the
whole House, though it may be a special or select committee. At
this third stage the Bill is considered section by section and
substantive amendments may be made. At the fourth or report stage
the Bill, as reported from the committee, is considered in 'toto'
and further amendment may be made. At the fifth and final stage a
general debate is permissible but is confined strictly to what is
contained in the Bill. It may then be passed by the House and
sent to the other House. After a Bill has been passed by both
Houses it is sent to the President for her signature and
promulgation as law. Bills which become law are termed Acts.
Under the Constitution, the Dáil has exclusive responsibility
for considering the estimates of receipts and expenditure of the
State, for approving international agreements which involve
charges upon public funds and for assenting to a declaration of,
or participation in, war.
Members of the Dáil have the right to address questions in
Parliament to Ministers where these relate to public affairs
connected with the work of the Ministers' Departments or with
matters of administration for which they are officially
responsible. Parliamentary questions cannot lead to a debate or a
vote. However, a member who is dissatisfied with an answer may,
with the consent of the Ceann Comhairle (Chairman) of the Dáil,
initiate a discussion at the time of the adjournment of the
House. Also with the consent of the Ceann Comhairle, a member
may, if supported by at least twelve members, move a motion that
the House adjourn to discuss a matter of urgent public
importance.
The monies required by the Government for both current and
capital expenditure are voted by the Dáil. A Money Bill may only
be initiated in the Dáil and certain restrictions apply to the
extent to which the Seanad may amend such Bills. The Ceann
Comhairle must certify that the Bill in question is a Money Bill.
A Bill passed by the Dáil which the Seanad rejects or which
passed in the Seanad with amendments to which the Dáil does not
agree, or a Bill which is neither rejected nor passed within
ninety days by the Seanad, may subsequently be enacted into law
by a resolution of the Dáil.
Membership of the Dáil
The Dáil has 166 members (known as Teachtaí Dála deputies to
the Representative Assembly' or TDs) returned by 41
constituencies, each of which elects three, four or five members,
according to its population. The Constitution provides that the
number of members of the Dáil must be such that there is not
more than one member for every 20,000 people or less than one
member for every 30,000 people. The constituencies must be
reviewed at least once every twelve years, with due regard to
changes in the distribution of the population.
Parties in the Dáil
The following political parties were represented in the Dáil
following the 1997 General Election: Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the
Labour Party, Progressive Democrats, Democratic Left, Sinn Féin
and the Green Party.
Seanad Éireann
Bills passed by the Dáil are sent to the Seanad, where they can
be amended. These amendments are considered by the Dáil. The
Seanad's duty in relation to finance is limited to giving
consideration, within 21 days, to Money Bills. In general, the
Seanad may delay for a maximum of ninety days a Bill passed by
the Dáil or may suggest changes in the Bill, but cannot block it
permanently.
Membership of the Seanad
The Seanad has sixty members:
1. Eleven are nominated by the Taoiseach.
2. Six are selected by graduates of the University of
Dublin, the National University of Ireland and such other
institutions of higher education as may be designated by law.
3. The remaining forty-three are elected from five panels
made up of people representing different vocational and
professional interests and services. Each panel is divided into
two sub-panels: one composed of candidates nominated by at least
four members of the Oireachtas and another composed of candidates
nominated by registered groups in the spheres of culture and
education, agriculture, labour, industry and commerce, and public
administration and social services.
Sittings of the Houses
Attendance at debates in the Houses is not compulsory and no
official record is kept of the members attending. The Dáil sits
for about 100 days in the year and the Seanad for about 60. Both
meet in Leinster House, Dublin.
Privileges of members
Each House makes its own rules and standing orders, with power to
attach penalties for their infringement, and has the power to
ensure freedom of debate, to protect its official documents and
the private papers of its members, and to protect itself and its
members against any person or persons interfering with, molesting
or attempting to corrupt its members in the exercise of their
duties.
All official reports and publications of the Houses and
utterances made in either House are privileged.
The members of each House are, except in the case of treason,
felony or breach of the peace, privileged from arrest in going to
and returning from, and while within the precincts of, either
House, and are not, in respect of any utterance in either House,
amenable to any court or any authority other than the House
itself.
Each House elects its own Chairman (Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil
and Cathaoirleach of the Seanad) and Deputy Chairman. They have
charge of the conduct of proceedings and the administration of
their Houses. The outgoing Ceann Comhairle is automatically
deemed to have been re- elected to the Dáil after a general
election, without having to go through the electoral process.
Both Houses of Parliament are assisted by a secretariat of civil
servants who work under the direction of the Clerks of the Dáil
and Seanad.
THE GOVERNMENT
The executive power of the people is exercised by the Government
or on its authority. Under the Constitution the Government must
consist of not less than seven and not more than fifteen members,
each of whom normally heads one or more Departments of State. It
acts as a collective authority responsible to the Dáil.
There may be up to seventeen Ministers of State, who are not
members of the Government but who assist specific Ministers in
their work.
The practice is that, following a general election, the
prospective Taoiseach first secures the support of a majority in
the new Dáil and then is formally appointed by the President.
The Taoiseach must resign when the Government ceases to retain
majority support in the Dáil.
Parliamentary Elections
The lifetime of a Dáil is not more than five years from the date
of its first meeting. In practice, however, the Taoiseach
normally exercises his power to recommend dissolution before the
end of that period. A general election must take place within
thirty days of a dissolution of the Dáil, and the newly elected
Dáil must meet within thirty days of the polling date.
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
How the Dáil is elected
Irish citizens and British citizens who have reached the age of
18 years and who are ordinarily resident in a constituency are
entitled to be registered as electors and to vote in general
elections in the Dáil constituency in which they are normally
resident.
No person may vote more than once. The ballot is secret. Members
are elected on the system of proportional representation and by
means of the single transferable vote in multi-member
constituencies. The register of electors is compiled annually by
the registration authorities. Postal voting is available to
members of the police (Garda Síochána) and full-time members of
the Defence Forces, civil servants (and their spouses) attached
to Irish missions abroad. Electors with physical disabilities or
illnesses which prevents them from going to a polling station to
vote may be registered as special voters and may vote at home by
having a ballot paper delivered to them.
Every Irish citizen who has reached the age of 21 years, and who
is not placed under disability or incapacity by the Constitution
or by law, is eligible for membership of the Dáil and Seanad.
There is a register of political parties. A candidate's
nomination paper may include the name of the registered political
party which he or she represents or, in the case of a person who
does not represent a registered party, the description
'non-party'. These particulars will appear on the ballot paper.
Polling takes place in schools and other suitable public
buildings. Polling compartments are provided in which voters can
mark their paper in secret. Voters must vote in person and not by
proxy.
The voters mark their paper by placing the figure ' 1 ' opposite
the name of the candidate of their first choice. They may then
place the figure '2' opposite the name of their second choice and
so on. Under the single transferable vote system the elector is
in effect telling the returning officer: 'I wish to vote for A,
but if A does not need my vote or has no chance of being elected,
transfer my vote to B. If B in turn does not need my vote or has
no chance of election, transfer my vote to C, and so on'.
Counting votes
The count commences at 9 am on the day after polling day. At the
opening of the count the ballot papers are mixed together and
sorted according to the first preferences recorded for the
candidates. The total number of valid papers is then found, and
from that figure the quota is calculated according to the
formula:
Total valid votes
___________________________Plus 1
Number of seats plus 1
Thus, if there were 40,000 votes and 4 seats to be filled, the
quota would be 8,001 and only four candidates could reach the
quota. The quota, then, is the smallest number necessary to
guarantee the election of a candidate.
If, on the first count, no candidate has reached the quota, the
candidate who received the lowest number of votes is eliminated
and his votes are transferred to the candidate for whom a second
preference is recorded. If a candidate receives more than the
quota required for election, the surplus votes are transferred to
the remaining candidates in accordance with the subsequent
preferences expressed by the electors.
When the number of remaining candidates neither elected nor
eliminated equals the number of vacancies to be filled, those
candidates are declared elected although they may not have
reached the quota.
A bye-election is held to fill a vacancy created by the death,
resignation or disqualification of a member of the Dáil. The
voting procedure in a bye-election is the same as that for a
general election.
How the Seanad is elected
An election for the Seanad must take place within ninety days of
a dissolution of the Dáil. The date of the first meeting of the
newly-elected Seanad is fixed by the President on the advice of
the Taoiseach. There are separate systems for the election of
university and panel members.
Panels
The numbers of members of the Seanad elected from each panel is
divided as follows:
1. Five members from the cultural and educational panel
(representing the national language and culture, literature, art,
education, law and medicine-including surgery, dentistry,
veterinary medicine and pharmaceutical chemistry), of whom two at
least are elected from each sub- panel .
2. Eleven members from the agricultural panel
(representing agriculture and allied interests and fisheries), of
whom four at least are elected from each sub- panel .
3. Eleven members from the labour panel (representing
labour, whether organised or unorganised), of whom four at least
are elected from each sub-panel.
4. Nine members from the industrial and commercial panel
(representing industry and commerce and including banking,
finance, accountancy, engineering and architecture), of whom
three at least are elected from each sub- panel.
5. Seven members from the administrative panel
(representing public administration and social services,
including voluntary social activities), of whom three at least
are elected from each sub-panel.
Formation of panels
The Clerk of the Seanad, acting as Seanad Returning Officer, is
required to maintain a register of bodies entitled to nominate a
number of people to the panels of candidates. At a Seanad
election each nominating body registered for a panel may propose
for nomination a fixed number of people. The final nominations
comprise what is known as the nominating bodies sub-panel.
Any four members of either House may nominate one candidate for
any panel, but each member may join in only one such nomination.
The nominations made by members of both Houses to each panel are
known as the Oireachtas sub-panel.
Candidates must have knowledge and practical experience related
to the panel for which they are nominated.
The Electorate
The electorate for an election of panel members to the Seanad
numbers almost 1,000 and consists of:
1. the members of the incoming Dáil,
2. the members of the outgoing Seanad,
3. the members of the Councils of Counties and the
Corporations of County Boroughs.
Each elector has only one vote for each panel. Each panel is
counted separately and the elections conducted in accordance with
the principle of proportional representation, by means of the
single transferable vote.