Politics of the Republic of Ireland

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Politics of the Republic of Ireland
Coat of arms
Polity type	Unitary parliamentary democratic Republic
Constitution	Constitution of Ireland
Legislative branch
Name	Oireachtas
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	Leinster House
Upper house
Name	Seanad Éireann
Presiding officer	Jerry Buttimer, Cathaoirleach
Appointer	Indirect Election
Lower house
Name	Dáil Éireann
Presiding officer	Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Ceann Comhairle
Appointer	Election
Executive branch
Head of State
Title	President of Ireland
Currently	Michael D. Higgins
Appointer	Election
Head of Government
Title	Taoiseach
Currently	Simon Harris
Appointer	President
Cabinet
Name	Government of Ireland
Current cabinet	34th government
Leader	Taoiseach
Deputy leader	Tánaiste
Appointer	Election by Oireachtas
Headquarters	Government Buildings
Ministries	18
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary
Supreme Court
Chief judge	Donal O'Donnell
Seat	Four Courts, Dublin
Court of Appeal
Chief judge	George Birmingham

Politics of the Republic of Ireland
Constitution Amendments
Presidency President Michael D. Higgins Council of State Presidential Commission
Government Cabinet Taoiseach: Simon Harris Tánaiste: Micheál Martin Departments of State Public Service Civil Service State Agencies Attorney General Rossa Fanning
Oireachtas Dáil Éireann Ceann Comhairle: Seán Ó Fearghaíl Seanad Éireann Cathaoirleach: Jerry Buttimer Opposition Leader: Mary Lou McDonald Committees
Courts Supreme Court Chief Justice: Donal O'Donnell Court of Appeal President: George Birmingham High Court President: David Barniville Special Criminal Court Circuit Court President: Patricia Ryan District Court President: Paul Kelly
Elections Constituencies Political parties By-elections Electoral Commission Recent elections General 2011 2016 2020 Presidential 2004 2011 2018 Local 2009 2014 2019 European 2009 2014 2019
Administrative geography Counties Local government
Foreign relations Department of Foreign Affairs Minister: Micheál Martin Irish neutrality Diplomatic missions of / in Ireland Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy Ireland–United Kingdom relations Politics of Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement Ireland–UK border Brexit and the Irish border British–Irish Council Australia–Ireland relations Ireland–New Zealand relations Canada–Ireland relations Ireland–United States relations Politics of the European Union
Ireland portal Other countries
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Ireland is a parliamentary, representative democratic republic and a member state of the European Union. While the head of state is the popularly elected President of Ireland, it is a largely ceremonial position, with real political power being vested in the Taoiseach, who is nominated by the Dáil and is the head of the government.

Executive power is exercised by the government, which consists of no more than 15 cabinet ministers, inclusive of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste (the deputy head of government). Legislative power is vested in the Oireachtas, the bicameral national parliament, which consists of Dáil Éireann, Seanad Éireann and the President of Ireland. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The head of the judiciary is the Chief Justice, who presides over the Supreme Court.

Ireland has a multi-party system. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, historically opposed and competing entities, which both occupy the traditional centre ground, trace their roots to the opposing sides of the Irish Civil War. All governments since 1932 have been led by one or the other party, with Fianna Fáil having had sufficient support at many elections to govern alone. Fluctuations in seat levels allowed changes in governments through different coalitions. From 1932 to 2011, the parties were stable in their support, with Fianna Fáil the largest at each election, Fine Gael the second largest, and on all but two occasions, the Labour Party the third party. The last three elections, however, have each had more volatile results. At the 2011 election, the largest parties in order were Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil;^[1] at the 2016 election, the largest parties in order were Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin;^[2] and at the 2020 election, the largest parties were Fianna Fáil first in seats (second in votes), Sinn Féin second in seats (first in votes), and then Fine Gael. The result was historically good for Sinn Féin.^[3]

In June 2020, leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, became the new Taoiseach (head of government). He formed a historic three-party coalition consisting of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. It was the first time in history that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were in the same government. The previous Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar, became the Tánaiste (deputy head of government). Martin led the country as Taoiseach until 17 December 2022, when he changed posts with Varadkar.^[4]

The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Ireland a "full democracy" in 2022.^[5] According to the V-Dem Democracy indices Ireland was the "7th most electoral democratic country" in the world in 2023.^[6]