Basic information about the territory
Subchapters:
- System of governance and political tendencies in the country
- Foreign policy of the country
- Population
The system of governance and political tendencies in the country
Official name of the country: Republic of Ireland (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann, English: Republic of Ireland)
President : Michael Daniel Higgins
Composition of the government: The government consists of the Prime Minister (Taoiseach, read tyšok), one Deputy Prime Minister (Tánaiste, read tónyšte) and 14 departmental ministers. The leader of the coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party is Micheál Martin (Fianna Fáil), the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment is Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael).
Other members of the government:
Stephen Donnelly – Minister for Health (FF)
Darragh O’Brien – Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (FF)
Charlie McConalogue – Minister for Agriculture and the Marine (FF)
Norma Foley – Minister for Education (FF)
Michael McGrath – Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (FF)
Paschal Donohoe – Minister for Finance (FG)
Helen McEntee -Minister for Justice (FG)
Simon Coveney – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Defense (FG)
Heather Humphreys – Minister for Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands (FG)
Simon Harris – Minister for Higher Education, Innovation and Research (FG)
Eamon Ryan – Minister for Climate Change Action, Communications Networks and Transport (SC)
Catherine Martin – Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and Irish-Speaking Connacht (SZ)
Roderic O’Gorman – Minister for Child Care, Disability Equality and Inclusion (SZ)
A brief description of the political system: Ireland is a parliamentary republic with universal suffrage from the age of 18 and a president at the head of state. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament (Oireachtas) consisting of a President (elected directly by voters for 7 years) and two chambers: the House of Representatives (Dáil, 160 members) and the Senate (Seanad, 60 members). Deputies are elected in general elections once every 5 years by a system of proportional representation using a multi-round progressive counting of preferential votes within individual constituencies. Senators are elected after general elections by members of the new Dáil, the existing Senate and local representatives within the so-called professional panels (43 members), the universities of UCD and NUI (3 members each) and 11 senators are appointed directly by the Prime Minister. Check computerminus to learn more about Ireland political system. Executive power is vested in the government. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President on the proposal of the Chamber of Deputies. The other members of the government are approved by the lower house and appointed by the president on the proposal of the prime minister. A member of the government must be a member of parliament or a senator. The resignation of a member of the government is accepted or recalled by the president at the proposal of the prime minister. The resignation of the prime minister means the resignation of the entire government. The parliamentary parties currently are (numbers in brackets indicate the number of parliamentary seats won in the February 2020 election):
- Fine Gael (35) – party of the Christian Democratic type (FG)
- Fianna Fáil (37) – Republican-style party (FF)
- Sinn Féin (37) – nationalist far-left party (SF)
- Labor Party (6) – party of the social-democratic type
- Anti-Austerity Alliance – People Before Profit (5)
- Social Democrats (6)
- Green Party (12) (SZ)
- Independent (21)
- Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (1)
In the February 2020 general election, Sinn Féin won the same number of seats as Fianna Fáil.
Elections
- Last elections: February 2020 (parliamentary), October 2018 (presidential)
Foreign policy of the country
Among the fundamental principles that have guided Irish foreign policy for more than 60 years are justice, respect for international law, equality of nations, the principle of collective responsibility, military neutrality, respect for human rights and the rules of sustainable development. The Irish government defined its main priorities in the document “The Golbal Island: Ireland’s Foreign Policy for a Changing World” from 2015. These include the fight against poverty and hunger, the promotion of human rights, disarmament, support for UN peacekeeping and reconciliation building on the island of Ireland. Also important is the government’s “Promote Ireland” program to promote political, economic and cultural interests abroad and to strengthen relations with the diaspora. In this direction, geographically priority countries are the UK, the USA, the countries of the British Commonwealth and a number of other countries, where the Irish diaspora has only recently established itself. Brexit negotiations in recent years have complicated the historically complex relationship between Ireland and Great Britain. In particular, the issue of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol was very politically sensitive. Ireland is not a member state of the Schengen Area and, together with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, forms the Common Travel Area (CTA). The United States of America is one of Ireland’s most important foreign political and trade partners, but it also represents a guarantee of peace on the island. A constant in Irish foreign policy is long-term support for Palestinian efforts for independence and relatively strong criticism of Israel. An integral part of Irish foreign policy is development aid and the fulfillment of the UN commitment to allocate 0.7% of GDP by 2030. Check relationshipsplus for Ireland defense and foreign policy.
Population
Population information: Population: 5,011,500 (2021), population density: 7inhabitants/km2 Official languages are Irish and English. English dominates, 35% of the population speak at least basic Irish. The other most frequently used languages are Polish, French, Lithuanian, Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic Church (78.3%), Church of Ireland (2.6%), other Christian denominations (4.2%), other (2%), no religion (10.1%), unspecified (2.8%)