Leinster House

On July 8, I found myself standing outside Leinster House which is where the Irish parliament is located. While I was standing there I found myself watching a few protests going on, one involved the civil union bill that was being voted on in the Seanad, and the other involved the greyhound breeding bill that was being voted on in the Dail. In case you didn't know the Seanad is the Irish version of a senate and the Dail is like the house of representatives. After a few minutes of watching some protesters former Lord Mayor of Dublin Ben Briscoe (brother to a UD professor) gave us a personal tour of Leinster House.

Leinster House was originally built for the Duke of Leinster in 1745 as his town house. It has since become the house for the two branches of Irish parliament. One interesting thing to note is that the two houses have to approve a bill that is identical before it passes to become a law. Ireland also does have a president but they are really just a figure head and can't do anything without the Dail's approval. They can't even travel to another country without approval. The president is voted for by the people and the past two presidents have been female. The president has a 7 year term, but can be replaced early if necessary. The Lord Mayor has a bit more power since he acts as the speaker of the house, but he only has a year term.

It was fascinating to see how the Irish government actually works and how different it is from American politics. Within the house there seems to be a lot more arbitrary bickering that doesn't have much meaning than I have ever heard of in the US house or senate. It was truly fun to watch the process of them voting on a bill too! Ben Briscoe also told us many stories about the 5 presidents he has had the pleasure of meeting throughout his life, which was so crazy to think about. Then on the way out of Leinster house we somehow managed to find a senator that talked to us for a good 5 or so minutes even though he was in a hurry to leave. He was sooo nice, and now I have met an Irish senator!

Here is a picture of the front of Leinster House.