Irish Senate Research Articles

‘As nearly subservient’ as it could be? Vocationalism and senatorial speaking behaviour in the Irish Senate 1938–45

SUMMARYPrevious studies of the Irish Senate (Seanad Éireann) have derided its vocational ethos by pointing to the flaws in its electoral system and lack of government commitment to vocationalism. This article examines the reality of vocational representation in the House in its earliest years (1938–45) by analysing the motions raised by senators. Examined under different subject headings commensurate with the House's vocational panels, the motions indicate that although the electoral processes were blurred and unsatisfactory, speeches made by senators still often reflected vocational concerns. Even as party political concerns dominated, vocationalism was still seen to influence the speaking behaviour of some senators with Agricultural and Labour panellists displaying the strongest commitment to the principle. The motions also illustrate how the Seanad, shorn of the powers of its predecessor, assumed the role of a public forum for debate. Senators often felt that they fulfilled a purpose by simply raising matters of importance in the House, thus accounting for the large number of motions withdrawn after lengthy debates. This was especially true of the numerous motions raised by senators on matters relating to the Second World War. It is contended that such motions along with the domination of political parties and the persistent rumours of corruption in the electoral system served to undermine the vocational identity of the Seanad. However, despite these difficulties, the examples in early Seanad debates of some senators adhering to vocational ideals serve to highlight greater complexity in senatorial behaviour than dismissals of the Seanad often allow.

Irlandzki Senat i nieudana próba jego zniesienia

The article discusses the Senate of the Republic of Ireland and a referendum campaign held regarding a government proposal aimed at abolishing the second chamber of the Irish parliament. This chamber is said to be one of the most bizarre second chambers that exist within European bicameral assemblies. It is the unique method it employs to create its membership that causes it to be regarded as strange. This method has somewhat incapacitated the senate as an institution of power within the Irish political system that additionally reinforces the governmental majority. The article presents, synthetically, the most important information about the Irish Senate and its powers. It also describes the political and economic circumstances that led to a referendum on the abolition of this chamber of parliament. It shows the arguments of both sides of the dispute over the necessity of such a constitutional reform, the course of the referendum campaign as well as the results of the referendum.

Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014

A Bill prepared for Senator David Norris (Irish Senate) providing for the granting of residency status of persons who have applied for refugee status or subsidiary protection, where such applications are outstanding for a provided period of time, and related matters.

Oral Rhetoric, Rhetoric, and Literature

In 1960, Professor Donald R. Pearce edited and published a small volume entitled The Senate Speeches of W. B. Yeats.1 Some editorial decisions Pearce made serve to focus attention on what the distinctive features of spoken, instigative discourse may be.2 Pearce included in his volume of speeches a body of extensively inter rupted discourse on divorce, delivered in the Irish Senate. This material com prises remarks by Yeats and seven other senators plus a number of interruptive observations and rulings by the presiding officer of the Senate. The editor says he chose to present this discourse practically in its entirety, partly as the best way of incorporating necessary information, and partly to preserve the context of excitement surrounding what was probably Yeats's forensic showpiece.3 Elsewhere in his collection Pearce included what he titled, Divorce: An Un delivered Speech.4 This editor's inclusion and treatment of materials satisfy common sense. Why? To ask the question is to draw attention to seldom discussed aspects of rhetorical speech: contextual information must be supplied if oral rhetoric (or its printed remains) is to be open to full understanding, and to think of unde livered speech is not to be self-contradictory. I propose in this essay to explore why these common-sense judgments can be true and what the reasons may suggest concerning distinctions among oral rhetoric, rhetoric, and In the process I hope to display some features of oral rhetoric which may partially account for the fact that editors like Pearce and ordinary users of English would find it unusual to refer to a man's speeches as his tracts and equally unusual to say that his speeches are, by definition if printed, literature. In furnishing contextual material for Yeats's remarks on divorce and in using the concept of an undelivered speech together with special contextual material, Professor Pearce acted as though some prose composed for oral delivery has attributes of a unique sort. He implied that these works by Yeats could not be rightly understood or rightly described by reference to the same data and terms

Ireland’s Unique Electoral Experiment: The Senate Election of 1925

The 1925 election to the Irish senate was unique in the history of electoral systems: the whole territory of the Irish Free State was used as a single, nation‐wide constituency for the election of 19 senators, by means of the single transferable vote system of proportional representation, from a general electorate. The procedure used was widely seen at the time as a failure, and the experiment was never repeated. This article, based on a reconstruction of the results of the election, revisits two important issues. First, it reassesses the character of the mechanism used in this election, and concludes that its critics overstated their case. Second, it evaluates the election against one of its originally declared yardsticks: its capacity to ensure that Ireland’s small ex‐unionist (and largely Protestant) minority would have a powerful voice in the second chamber. Although the election was not a success in this second respect (a failure that was in part due to the nomination process), it nevertheless offers important and original evidence of the extent to which party hegemony may be challenged in elections of this kind by powerful sectional and regional interests.

The Role and Future of the Upper House in Ireland

Ireland is a highly centralised unitary state and thus lacks the standard 'federal' justification of a Senate as a place in which the interests of the constituent states are represented. Nonetheless, Ireland has a Senate under the 1937 Constitution, comprising three types of senator: those indirectly elected from 'vocational' panels, those directly elected by graduates of the two traditional universities and those nominated by the Prime Minister. Its powers are extremely weak. Several attempts to reform the Irish Senate have failed, in large part as a result of an unwillingness of the political elite to change a situation in which politicians who are unsuccessful in election to the lower house can find a political home pending the next election. There does however remain a potential future role for the Senate - if it were to be directly elected and given important jobs to do such as the oversight of EU legislation.

The Irish Senate: The case for Seanad Éireann

The Irish Senate: The case for Seanad Éireann

THE IRISH SENATE ELECTION OF 1977: VOTING IN A SMALL ELECTORATE

THE IRISH SENATE ELECTION OF 1977: VOTING IN A SMALL ELECTORATE Get access John Coakley John Coakley Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 33, Issue 1, 1980, Pages 322–331, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a051843 Published: 01 January 1980

The Irish Senate Election of 1977: Voting in a Small Electorate

The Irish Senate Election of 1977: Voting in a Small Electorate

Reviews: Systemic Aspects of Public Administration, Administration: The Word and the Science, Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems, Alexander Hamilton and the Idea of Republican Government, Individualism, The Mask of Politics, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, The Psychology of Conservatism, Anarchy in Action, Bakunin on Anarchy, The Essential Stalin Major Theoretical Writings 1905–52, Thomas Hobbes—Logik Der Herrschaft Und Vernunft Des Friedens, The

Reviews: Systemic Aspects of Public Administration, Administration: The Word and the Science, Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems, Alexander Hamilton and the Idea of Republican Government, Individualism, The Mask of Politics, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, The Psychology of Conservatism, Anarchy in Action, Bakunin on Anarchy, The Essential Stalin Major Theoretical Writings 1905–52, Thomas Hobbes—Logik Der Herrschaft Und Vernunft Des Friedens, The

Reviews: The Impact of Labour 1920–1924. The Beginning of Modern Politics, The Union of Democratic Control in British Politics during the First World War, The Workers' Union, The Social Psychology of Social Movements, Social Psychology and Political Behavior: Problems and Prospects, Politics and Social Insight, Introduction to Problem Solving in Political Science, The Study of Policy Formation, Politics of Federal

Reviews: The Impact of Labour 1920–1924. The Beginning of Modern Politics, The Union of Democratic Control in British Politics during the First World War, The Workers' Union, The Social Psychology of Social Movements, Social Psychology and Political Behavior: Problems and Prospects, Politics and Social Insight, Introduction to Problem Solving in Political Science, The Study of Policy Formation, Politics of Federal

Vocational Representation and the Irish Senate

Vocational Representation and the Irish Senate