Last business dress day to the Irish Parliament building. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this tour. We learned a lot about the Irish Political System and that it was actually influenced by the American government system.
To break it down, they have an upper house which is like our Senate and a lower house which is like our Parliament called the Dail. They also have a prescient which they refer to as the Uachtarain. Then there is the Cathaoirleach who is the leader of the senate and the Taoiseach who is the leader of the lower house. Unlike the United States though they also have a Prime Minister, who is the person that the President has to get approval from before they essentially do anything. The President has to get permission from him before leaving the country and before he gives any type of speech. The Irish elections are done in proportional representation. When the Irish Vote instead of just voting for one person they rank all the candidates in order so that minority groups are also recognized in the voting process more fairly. The voting cards that they get also have not just the name of the candidate but the name, a picture of the candidates and the logo of that candidate’s political party.
Above is a picture from Shutterstock of the St Patrick blue carpets in the Parliament room we got to sit in.
We then got a tour of the Parliament which unfortunately I was not allowed to take any pictures in, but the security of this building was quite light compared to the US. Our tour guide took us through the building explaining what each room was unutilized for. Something interesting I learned was that Ireland’s color is actually a dark blue which they refer to as the blue of St. Patrick which is the color of the rugs in the parliament room itself. He also introduced as to all the paints on the walls and why they were important people to the Irish Government.