Recruitment Eire

GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND

The Irish Parliament or Dail is made up from six political parties. Fianna Fail is the largest and is a right of centre party with about 40% of the electoral vote. This party grew out of the Civil War which split the country in the 1920's and was originally made up from people who opposed ceding the six Ulster counties to the British in return for the freedom of the remaining twenty six counties. They are the dominant party who has nearly always been in power.

The Fine Gael is a strong rural force with about 25% of the vote. This started with supporters of the Free State.

Labour draws something between 12% and 18% of the vote. It joined with the Democratic Left party in 1998 to strengthen its position.

The Progressive Democrats were originally a splinter from the Fianna Fall group, but it is now a separate entity with the furthest right leanings. One way to categorise them might be as free market Reagan-Thatcherites.

The Green Party has a radical foreign policy which strongly opposes the Nice Treaty and Iraq War. With their strong environmental issues, they tripled their number of Dail deputies in the 2002 election.

Sinn Fein first appeared at the Dail in 1997. They are the political arm of the IRA who target the disenfranchised electors. This party is growing rapidly with 5 Dail deputies.

A major change in the funding of local government in early 1997 gave local councillors more power in fiscal matters. But even if all local councillors agree on an issue, the city or county manager is not obligated to follow their advice and can overrule them. Also local governments which cannot agree a balanced budget can be disbanded by officers from the Department of the Environment. The real power therefore rests with appointed officials chosen by a civil service committee and not one who is chosen by the residents of the country.