Dear Mom and Dad,
As you know, I am working at the Irish Parliament. All of Parliament here is called the House of the Oireachtas, and oireachtas comes from the Irish word meaning “assembly.” The House of the Oireachtas is split into two chambers, the Seanad Éireann and the Dáil Éireann, meaning the Senate and the House of Deputies, which is similar to our Congress that is split up into the Senate and the House of Representatives. I am working for a TD or Deputy, which is a representative’s title here. TD stands for Teachta Dala which is an Irish word generally meaning “deputy,” and is most closely equated to our Congressmen. While the set up of the Irish Parliament is similar in this way to the United States Congress, it is also very different in that their Prime Minister, here called An Taoiseach (pronounced tee-shock) works directly in the Dáil. The current Taoiseach is Enda Kenny. While our head of state is more of an executive administrator working from within the White House, the Taoiseach debates in the chamber of the Dáil with the TDs, answering their questions directly. It would be like turning on CSPAN back in the States to see President Obama in the Congressional chamber debating with the Congressmen. Including the Taoiseach, Ireland also has a president, currently Mary McAleese. The president functions more as a figurehead and the spokesperson for Ireland, performing primarily ceremonial duties. Ireland’s president is most similar to England’s Queen.
At work, I do not have co-workers as other interns might have at other jobs here in Ireland. It is simply me and my boss, TD Patrick O’Donovan in his one room office at the Dáil. This is because he is a new member of Parliament and chose to have a one room office. It is also because he has a constituency office back where he is from, in Limerick. His parliamentary assistant manages the constituency office, which deals directly with the constituents as well as with the press for O’Donovan.
The House of the Oireachtas is located in Leinster House, on Kildare Street. Leinster House was originally the home to James Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, built between 1745-1747. It is modeled after Georgian architecture, which can be seen in several other places around Dublin, proving it to have been a popular style during the time. Fitzgerald wanted his house to be the “stateliest of Dublin Georgian Mansions” to show to everyone his prestige in Irish society. Fitzgerald later became the Duke of Leinster (a province that both Kildare and Dublin are situated in), and therefore the house became Leinster House. After the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the Government bought Leinster House to be the place for Parliament.
Leinster House is such a beautiful building, and I love walking into it every day. I have included some pictures of it below to show you. Also, as aforementioned, Leinster House is located on Kildare Street, which is right in the city centre. Across from Kildare Street is St. Stephen’s Green, which is most equivalent to New York City’s Central Park. Dawson Street and Grafton Street are the two streets parallel to Kildare Street, which have numerous cafes and shops to go into; Grafton is known as the shopping center of Dublin! At the corner of St. Stephen’s Green and Grafton Street is the St. Stephen’s Green mall as well.
Leinster House – the left wing houses the Seanad, and the right wing houses the Dáil. I walk straight through that front door every morning!
This is the chamber for the Dáil. In the center is the court callier who runs parliamentary procedure. The government TDs sit on the right side, meaning the TDs from the political party that is currently in the majority. The opposition sits on the left, meaning the TDs that are in the minority. Currently, Fine Gail is in the majority, and Fianna Fail is in the minority, after Fianna Fail was in the majority for the past 14 years but just recently lost in the February midterm election. The curtain above covers a screen, which is shown when the TDs are voting. They vote electronically, and on the screen is an image of their seats, highlighted green or red for yes or no for the vote. The seats below the curtain are for the press, and the seats above the chamber, behind the glass, are for the public, called the gallery.
This is the staircase in the Dail, and one of my favorite parts of the building. I get to walk up these beautiful stairs to my office everyday! Once you go up the stairs, the doors right in front are the doors to the chamber, where the TDs enter.
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny – Fine Gail political party member. I have seen him in the Dáil, and therefore have been closer to him than my own president!
President Mary McAleese – Ireland is the only country in the history of the world to have two women serve consecutively as president! The former president was Mary Robinson.
