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.
The Second Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected at the 1921 elections, but with only members of Sinn Féin taking their seats. On 7 January 1922, it ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64 votes to 57 which ended the War of Independence and led to the establishment of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922.
The Socialist Party is a political party in Ireland, active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Internationally, it was affiliated to the Trotskyist International Socialist Alternative until 2024.
Joe Higgins is an Irish former Socialist Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency from 1997 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2016. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency from 2009 to 2011.
The members of the First Dáil, known as Teachtaí Dála (TDs), were the 101 Members of Parliament (MPs) returned from constituencies in Ireland at the 1918 United Kingdom general election. In its first general election, Sinn Féin won 73 seats and viewed the result as a mandate for independence; in accordance with its declared policy of abstentionism, its 69 MPs refused to attend the British House of Commons in Westminster, and established a revolutionary parliament known as Dáil Éireann. The other Irish MPs — 26 unionists and six from the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) — sat at Westminster and for the most part ignored the invitation to attend the Dáil. Thomas Harbison, IPP MP for North East Tyrone, did acknowledge the invitation, but "stated he should decline for obvious reasons". The Dáil met for the first time on 21 January 1919 in Mansion House in Dublin. Only 27 members attended; most of the other Sinn Féin TDs were imprisoned by the British authorities, or in hiding under threat of arrest. All 101 MPs were considered TDs, and their names were called out on the roll of membership, though there was some laughter when Irish Unionist Alliance leader Edward Carson was described as as láthair ("absent"). The database of members of the Oireachtas includes for the First Dáil only those elected for Sinn Féin.
In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogeneous group of elected officials from political parties or independents of differing ideologies. They are formed for technical reasons so that members enjoy rights or benefits that would remain unavailable to them outside a formally recognized parliamentary group. A technical group is distinguished from parliamentary groups by differing ideologies within the group.
Clare Daly is an Irish politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency from July 2019 to July 2024. She is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL.
Richard Boyd Barrett is an Irish People Before Profit–Solidarity politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since the 2011 general election. Boyd Barrett is a former member of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council. He is also chair of the Irish Anti-War Movement and has been cited on war issues in the Irish media.
People Before Profit is a Trotskyist political party formed in October 2005. The party is active in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Joan Collins is an Irish Right to Change politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-Central constituency since the 2011 general election.
The 2016 Irish general election to the 32nd Dáil was held on Friday 26 February, following the dissolution of the 31st Dáil by President Michael D. Higgins on 3 February, at the request of Taoiseach Enda Kenny. The general election took place in 40 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland to elect to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála to Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. There was a reduction of eight seats under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2013.
The 31st Dáil was elected at the 2011 general election on 25 February 2011 and first met at midday on 9 March 2011 in Leinster House. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland, are known as TDs. It sat with the 24th Seanad as the two Houses of the Oireachtas.
The United Left Alliance was an electoral alliance of left-wing political parties and independent politicians in the Republic of Ireland, formed to contest the 2011 general election. The grouping originally consisted of three existing political parties, the Socialist Party, the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA), and the Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG), as well as former members of the Labour Party.
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann. It consists of 160 members, each known as a Teachta Dála. TDs represent 39 constituencies and are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach. Since 1922, it has met in Leinster House in Dublin.
The Reform Alliance was an Irish political group formed on 13 September 2013 by Oireachtas members who had been expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party for voting against the party whip. Since the dissolution of the 31st Dail, it has been defunct. Its members described it as a "loose alliance" but did not preclude forming a political party in the future.
Independents 4 Change is an Irish political alliance, with registration as a political party, comprising several independent politicians. It had two MEPs in the Ninth European Parliament: Clare Daly and Mick Wallace.
The Independent Alliance was an Irish political grouping formed in March 2015 by independent politicians. It was founded by Shane Ross and Michael Fitzmaurice. It was not a political party and stated that that it would not impose any whip on elected members except if the group agreed to support a government on confidence motions. After the 2016 general election, its members became part of a minority government with Fine Gael and other non-aligned Independent ministers.
People Before Profit–Solidarity is a left-wing electoral alliance in the Republic of Ireland. It was formed by members of two socialist political parties, People Before Profit (PBP) and Solidarity. Solidarity was known as the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA) until 2017. Since September 2019, the alliance also included the RISE party founded by Paul Murphy. In early 2021, RISE became fully integrated into PBP. The alliance was formed in 2015 and replaced AAA and PBP in Ireland's official register of political parties; however, each entity retains its separate organisation and identity, and the PBP also retains its own registration in Northern Ireland. The alliance was created with the intent to obtain more speaking rights for its constituent members in Dáil Éireann after the 2016 Irish general election.
Independent politicians contest elections without the support of a political party. They have played a continuous role in the politics of the Republic of Ireland since its independence in 1922.
