A Century of Irish Parliamentary Government

The occasion of the centenary of the sitting of the first Dáil in January 1919 provides an opportune time to reflect on the evolution of the Irish parliamentary experience over that period, and the role played by the national parliament as the locus of Irish democratic politics. And though the Irish experience of parliamentary politics is not without its shortcomings, there are not many contemporary states within Europe or indeed globally that can attest to ten decades of unbroken parliamentary government from the early twentieth century to the present. In this forum piece, we survey the principal changes to the structure, operation and character of the Oireachtas and Irish parliamentary politics since the First Dáil met in the turbulent post-WWI period. In a final section we look to the future of Irish parliament.