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OireachtasNational Parliament of Ireland

Parliamentary Monuments and Citizenship Vol. 3

The Constitution contains the fundamentallaws and rules by which our political system isgoverned. It outlines our constitutional rightsas citizens. It was enacted by the people of Ire-land in 1937 and can only be changed by a ref-erendum of the people.

The Constitution outlines the function of theOireachtas. The Oireachtas consists of threedifferent bodies: The President, Seanad ireann(upper house), and Dil ireann (lower house).

We visited Leinster House which is the home ofDil ireann and Seanad ireann. We were re-ceived by two past pupils of our school, DerekNolan and Brian Walsh, who are now membersof the Dil.

Derek Nolan T.D.

Derek is a past pupil of St.Michaels School. He was aGalway City Councillor for

two years before he waselected to the Dil by the peo-

ple of Galway West in 2011.He sits on two committees

one of which is the Public Ac-counts Committee. He is a

member of the Labour Party.The Labour party forms acoalition government with

the Fine Gael party.

Brian Walsh T.D.

Brian is a past pupil of St.Michaels School. He wasa Galway City Councillorfor seven years, and Citymayor for one year beforehe was elected to the Dilby the people of GalwayWest in 1911. He sits on

the Committee of Trans-port and Communication.He is a member of the

Fine Gael Party. The FineGael party forms a coali-tion government with the

Labour party.

Our Day at the DilOnce we arrived at the Dil former pupilsfrom our school, Derek Nolan and BrianWalsh were waiting for us outside LeinsterHouse. We posed for pictures with them andthey brought us to the video room to talk tous. They told us about their time in St. Mi-chaels and their work as Dil Deputies. Afterthey were done talking, a bell rang indicatingthat a Dil vote would take place within sixminutes. So that meant that Derek and Brianhad to leave.

A guide then brought us around LeinsterHouse. We saw the chambers of the Dil and

the Seanad (Senate). We saw pictures of for-mer Taoisigh (leaders). We learned about theCeann Comhairle or speaker of the Dil. Afterall of that we were finished and we got backon the bus and went returned to Galway. Itwas a great tour.

Scott Rigny - Sixth Class

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Leinster HouseThe house was originally known as Kildare house

named after James Fitzgerald, the earl of Kildare,

who commissioned it to built between 1745-47. It

was designed by Richard Cassel, who was born in

Germany. On becoming the Duke of Leinster in

1776, the house was renamed Leinster House. The

third duke of Leinster, sold the mansion to the Royal

Dublin Society (RDS) for 10,000.

After the establishment of the Irish Free State in1922, the Government secured a part of Leinster

House for parliamentary use. The entire building was

acquired by the state in 1924. Today, Leinster House

is the seat of the two Houses of the Oireachtas, Dil

ireann and Seanad ireann.

Parliamentary

Monuments and Citizen-ship

Offices of the OireachtasTaoiseach: The Taoiseach or

Prime Minister is elected by

members of Dil ireann. He

then forms a government

that may last for 5 years.

Tnaiste: The Tnaiste or

Deputy Prime Minister is

appointed by the Presidenton advice from the Tao-

iseach.

Ceann Comhairle: The Ceann

Comhairle is the chairperson

or Speaker of Dil ireann.

He is elected by the members

of Dil ireann.

Dil ireannDil ireann is the primary legislative body of

the Oireachtas. It is made up of 166 directly

elected members who are called Dil Deputies

or TDs. Citizens ages 18 years and over may

vote. By law a general election to Dil ireann

must be held at least every 5 years. A TD may

be a member of a political party, or may be an

Independent. The main functions of Dil ire-

ann are to elect a Taoiseach, to hold the gov-

ernment to account, to approve spending of

public money and to enact new legislation.

Seanad ireannThe 60 members of Seanad ireann are not

directly elected by the public. They are

elected by select groups and 11 are nominated

by the Taoiseach. The main functions of the

Seanad are to debate, amend and pass laws.

The Seanad has limited powers of initiating

laws, but does not have the power to veto leg-

islation.

Dil Deputies take part in debates and make

representations on behalf of members of the

public, interest groups and their constituents.

In addition, TDs vote on legislation and ask

parliamentary questions.