1. Irish Politics and Economy

2. Irish Government Like many countries in Western Europe, and countries with historical links to the UK, Ireland is a representative democracy. So like the UK, Ireland has a parliament of elected representatives, although there are some differences. Because Irish is an official language of Ireland, many of the government positions have Irish names.

3. Irish Government Like the UK, Ireland has a Prime Minister who is the leader of the political party which controls the government, but the name for the Prime Minister in Irish is Taoiseach. The main section of Parliament in Ireland is called the Dail, and the Irish police are called the Garda Siochana. Because Ireland is a Republic, not a monarchy like the UK, it has a President.

4. Irish Goverment The Irish President is called the Uachtaran, and is elected by the Irish people. The president is the head of state, but unlike the President of the USA, the President of Ireland does not have very much power, and the real leader of the government is the Prime Minister. The government of Ireland is made up of members of the Irish parliament selected by the Prime Minister to look after different areas of the government, for instance finance, or defence, similar to the system in many countries.

5. Irish Government The Irish parliament is made up of two parts, the Dail, which is the more important, and the Senate, called the Seanad in Irish. Any law that the government wants to pass must be approved by the Dail. If the senate does not approve a law as well as the Dail, it can still be allowed, so the senate does not have much power.

6. Irish Government Members of the Dail are chosen in elections by citizens of Ireland over 18 years of age, but members of the senate are chosen by different parts of the government and society. Irish citizens have a number of different elections to vote in. Presidential elections are held every seven years, parliamentary elections are held every five years, and local elections are also every five years

7. Irish Government Because Ireland is a member of the European Union, citizens can also vote for members of the European Union. To change a part of the Irish constitution, the citizens must vote for it in a referendum.

8. Irish Legal System Like the British and American Legal systems, the Irish system is based on the constitution, which is a set of instructions on how laws are to be made, and how government is selected. Like most other Western countries, a judge is in charge of each court. In court cases involving a serious crime, a jury decides whether the person is guilty or not guilty, then the judge decides the punishment.

9. Irish Legal System In civil court cases, where the issue is usually about money, the judge makes the decision himself. There are number of different courts, and people who are unhappy with a decision in a lower court can appeal to a higher court for a new judgement. The most powerful court is the Supreme Court.

10. Irish Economy In the 1980s, the Irish economy was in trouble. There were many people out of work, and those that did have work had to pay very high taxes. Many people were leaving the country to live in other parts of the world, and the government had a lot of debt.

11. Irish Economy In 1987 a new government took over, and decided that Ireland needed to become more efficient. The size of the government was drastically cut. Public spending was reduced, and taxes were lowered to promote business. Government regulations on business were lowered, and competition in all areas of business was encouraged.

12. Irish Economy The changes made to the economy by the new government were successful. Many foreign companies invested in Ireland because it had less regulations, and the Irish economy became strong in areas such as high technology, where in the past it had been mostly dependent on farming. Companies like Intel, Microsoft and Google thought Ireland was a good place to have business, and invested there.

13. Irish Economy Ireland is also a member of the European Union, and the economy was helped by access to the markets of Europe. Also, because to begin with Ireland was very poor compared to other countries in the EU, there was a lot of spending by the EU to improve education and training in Ireland, and to help businesses. Ireland has large natural resources of zinc and lead, and is one of Europe’s top producers of these metals.

14. Irish Economy All of these advantages resulted in an Irish economy so strong in the late 1990s that it was called the Celtic Tiger. The Irish economy continued to develop until 2008, when the Global economic crisis hit. Like many other places, problems in the property market in Ireland were made much worse by the crisis, and Ireland is now in a recession.