Frequently Answered Questions on soc.culture.irish. Send corrections, suggestions, additions, and other feedback to The FAQ maintainer.
The Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann)
states in Article 4:
"The name of the State is Éire, or in the English language, Ireland."
Some people find the use of "Éire" or
(worse) "Eire" in English irritating, but not everyone.
"Ireland" is ambiguous: it may refer to the island or to the part governed from Dublin. You may want to say "the island of Ireland" to avoid this ambiguity.
The following are synonyms in common usage. Some of these terms are politically loaded: the first in each list is the best choice if you want to make yourself clear (without committing yourself to a particular political view).
Northern Ireland; Ulster; the North; the Six Counties
Republic of Ireland; Ireland; the South; the Twenty Six Counties; the Free State
Information on public services provided by the Irish government can be found at:
Article 2
It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Furthermore, the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage.
Article 3
1. It is the firm will of the Irish nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland, in all the diversity of their identities and traditions, recognising that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island. Until then, the laws enacted by the Parliament established by this Constitution shall have the like area and extent of application as the laws enacted by the Parliament that existed immediately before the coming into operation of this Constitution.
2. Institutions with executive powers and functions that are shared between those jurisdictions may be established by their respective responsible authorities for stated purposes and may exercise powers and functions in respect of all or any part of the island.
A quota is established for each constituency when the votes are counted. This quota is calculated as follows.
Let V be the number of valid votes. Let S be the number of seats in the constituency. The quota Q is
V ----- + 1 S+1
If there were 60,000 votes in a three seat constituency the quota would be ((60000 / 4) + 1) = 15,001 votes.
Counts are divided into rounds. In the first round, all first preferences are counted. At the end of each round, the votes to be counted during the next round are determined as follows
- if one or more candidates receive the quota of votes they are deemed elected; the surplus votes of the most popular candidate are redistributed among the remaining (unelected) candidates according to the next preference
- if no candidate has reached the quota, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and his votes are redistributed among the remaining candidates according to the next preference
Rounds are repeated until either all the seats are filled or the number of vacant seats equals the number of remaining candidates. In the latter case, the remaining candidates are deemed elected even though they got less than the quota of votes.
If a candidate exceeds the quota on the first count, the excess votes are distributed in proportion to all the votes for that candidate (i.e. the second preferences on all the ballots are counted). The actual votes transferred are chosen at random (obviously making sure that they are for the appropriate candidate).
On subsequent rounds, the votes are chosen at random without first counting all the next preferences. Transferred votes are transferred again before first preferences.
Because counting is a more complicated process than in most other countries, it takes longer. Counting is not even started until the day after the election and can go on for days if candidates demand a recount. Most political parties have experts, called tally men, who (using local knowledge and years of experience) try to predict early on in the count what the result is going to be. A good tally man can tell the outcome to within a few hundred votes after only a few ballot boxes have been counted.
The first-past-the-post system is used in Northern Ireland, except for elections to local councils and the European Parliament, when a slightly different form of proportional STV is used.
Fianna Fáil, led by Bertie Ahern
http://www.fiannafail.ie/
Fine Gael, led by Enda Kenny
http://www.finegael.com/
Labour Party, led by Ruairi Quinn
http://www.labour.ie/
Progressive Democrats, led by Mary Harney
http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie
Green Party/Comhaontas Glas, led by Trevor Sargent
http://www.greenparty.ie
Sinn Féin, led by Gerry Adams
http://sinnfein.ie/
Socialist Party, led by Joe Higgins
http://www.dojo.ie/socialist
The lifetime of the Dáil is limited to no more than seven years by the Constitution and is presently fixed by law at five years. Election statistics can be found at electionsireland.org.
For more details and copious statistics on the gruesome spectacle
that passes for politics in Northern Ireland, see Nicholas Whyte's
comprehensive web site at:
http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections
9) Isn't contraception illegal in the Republic?
Most of the laws restricting the sale of contraceptives have been repealed. The only form of contraception banned is the RU-486 abortion pill. Ten years ago condoms weren't available to under anybody under 16 but condom machines are now commonplace in bars throughout the country.
"A Court designated by law may grant a dissolution of marriage where, but only where, it is satisfied that: i. at the date of the institution of the proceedings, the spouses have lived apart from one another for a period of, or periods amounting to, at least four years during the last five years, ii. there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation between the spouses, iii. such provision as the Court considers proper having regard to the circumstances exists or will be made for the spouses, any children of either or both of them and any other person prescribed by law, and iv. any further conditions prescribed by law are complied with."The petition submitted by the Anti-Divorce Campaign to the Supreme Court, challenging the result of the referendum, was rejected by the Court in June 1996.
Legislation passed by the Oireachtas to regulate divorce came into effect in March 1997. The legislation builds on existing family law.
http://www.nio.gov.uk/agreement.htm