Government - Book Chapters

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The 2018 abortion referendum: over before it began!
(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020-01-15) Reidy, Theresa; Browne, Kath; Calkin , Sydney
Ireland was a mostly conservative outpost of Western Europe until the 1990s and the conservative values and policy posi-tions contained in the constitution rested easily with a large majority of voters until at least the 1960s (Lee 1989; Ferriter 2010). Economic expansion and social modernisation in the decades that followed led to the emergence of a new and deep-seated conservative-liberal cleavage in politics (Sinnott 1995). Contraception, divorce and abortion were the main issues on this political fault line and debates became increasingly divisive in the ensuing decades and were widely known as the ‘culture wars’ by the 1980s. Undoubtedly, abortion was the most contro-versial and enduring of these issues. A process of six referendum questions on four separate polling days began with the passing of the Pro-Life (Anti-Abortion) Amendment in 1983. Referendums in Ireland have been classified into three categories: international treaties, legal and political reforms and moral-social questions. Abortion falls into the category of moral-social questions (Sinnott 2002). These referendums draw from the fundamental values that citizens have about how society should be organised and campaigns on these questions have tended to be politically charged and divisive. Paddy O’Carroll described the 1983 abortion referendum as having delivered a campaign of “unparalleled divisiveness, bitterness and rancour” (O’Carroll 1991: 57). Abortion was never far from the political agenda in the following decades, but the first referendum, which sought to liberalise abortion provision, was not put before the people until 2018. This chapter will provide a brief overview of the six abortion votes outlining the evolution of the issue in public debate, the role of campaign actors and the pathway to the 2018 referendum in section one. Section two will present evidence from a series of opinion polls and exit polls which indicate shifting attitudes towards abortion provision. It will use data from the RTÉ-Universities exit poll at the 2018 referendum to demonstrate that Irish attitudes to abortion had liberalised considerably in the previous decade and that the referendum campaign, while important for the mobilisation of voters, was instrumental in changing the views of only a small proportion of voters. In large part, this accounts for the stability in preferences recorded in polls in the lead up to and throughout the campaign. Some reflections on abortion referendums are included in the final section.
Parties and the party system
(Routledge, 2023-08-31) Weeks, Liam; Coakley, John; Gallagher, Michael; O'Malley , Eoin; Reidy, Theresa
The first section of the chapter outlines the primary actors in the Irish party system and the evolution of competition between them, placing the origins and development of the party system within a comparative framework. It discusses the traditional party system dominated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and how this has been challenged by a new model with the rise of Sinn Féin, other left-wing parties, and independents. The second section focuses on the internal workings of parties, detailing the operation of their organisations and identifying where power lies within them. As well as a consideration of how the parties function, it details how each of them makes policy, picks its leaders, and chooses its candidates. Issues around party finance and campaign expenditure are also discussed. The chapter concludes with an evaluation of the role of parties and the place of the Irish party system in the twenty-first century.
Women in politics
(Routledge, 2023-08-31) Galligan, Yvonne; Buckley, Fiona; Coakley, John; Gallagher, Michael; O'Malley, Eoin; Reidy, Theresa
This chapter draws attention to gender and representative politics in Ireland. It begins by taking a detailed look at the pattern of women’s representation in social and political decision-making. This is followed by an exploration of the causes of women’s absence from public life and a discussion of the parliamentary representation of women’s interests. The significant progress in relation to women’s lives and women’s political representation in Ireland since the 1990s is highlighted. Yet continuing gendered biases remain, stymieing women’s advancement in public life while simultaneously privileging the male status quo. Furthermore, the need for a more inclusive and diverse politics is made. The chapter concludes with a general assessment of current patterns and future challenges.
Ireland: Understanding gender quotas as a stepping-stone to gender transformation and empowerment
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2022-12-02) Brennan, Mary; Buckley, Fiona; Galligan, Yvonne; Lang, Sabine; Meier, Petra; Sauer, Birgit
Ostensibly, gender quotas have had a transformative effect on women’s political candidacy and election in Ireland. Since the inaugural “gender quota election” of 2016, the number of women candidates contesting general elections has increased by 90% while the number of women elected has increased by 44%. Yet, in 2022, men outnumber women by a ratio of 3.44:1 in Dáil Eireann (the lower house of parliament). This chapter discusses the implementation of legislative gender quotas in Ireland. It shows that political parties have met the letter of the law in fielding the requisite numbers of women candidates, but questions remain as to the extent to which the spirit of the law has been embraced to transform candidate selection processes within political parties. The chapter argues that legislative gender quotas should therefore be understood as the start rather than the culmination of efforts to achieve gender equality within political parties in Ireland. But beyond political parties, we conclude that the introduction of candidate gender quotas in Ireland flagged a significant shift in political culture, which carried through into later political reforms on the unresolved issue of abortion and the newer issue of marriage equality.
Gender quotas in Ireland: A first for proportional representation by the single transferable vote
(Oxford University Press, 2021-08-01) Buckley, Fiona; Brennan, Mary
This chapter considers the implementation and effect of legislative gender quotas in the 2016 general election, a first for Ireland and a first for the proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote electoral system (PR-STV). It focuses on political parties and examines how they integrated the formal gender quota law into their candidate selection processes. Particular attention is paid to whether the law changed existing candidate selection practices, many of which are guided by informal candidate selection norms, such as a preference for incumbents and those exhibiting localist traits. The chapter concludes that the gender quota law did engender change in the candidate recruitment, selection, and election of women, but, as scholars of feminist institutionalism would describe, the change was â nestedâ and â boundedâ within existing practices surrounding candidate selection, thereby denting but not dismantling the gendered norms of this process.

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