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Politics in the Republic of Ireland
Politics in the Republic of Ireland is now available in a fully revised fifth edition. Building on the success of the previous four editions, it continues to provide an authoritative introduction to all aspects of politics in the Republic of Ireland. Written by some of the foremost experts on Irish politics, it explains, analyzes and interprets the background to Irish government and contemporary political processes. Bringing students up to date with the very latest developments, Coakley and Gallagher combine real substance with a highly readable style, providing an accessible textbook that meets the needs of all those who are interested in knowing how politics and government operate in Ireland.
512 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 29, 2018
Four stars from me, because I'm coming from the post-global financial crash world viewpoint. The early chapters do feel over-detailed on some issues, but explain others well. We see how parties and forces developed in a colonised and thus impoverished country, which was left with the institutions and structures of the coloniser upon gaining its freedom.
Women in politics get one chapter, by Yvonne Galligan. Apart from sundry remarks about voting, cases and referenda. Maybe this book would take on a different flavour if written by women, though two women are among the contributors in this edition. For instance, James Connolly said that the worker is the slave of capitalist society and the female worker is the slave of that slave. I didn't see that quote in this book. I don't see Connolly in the index. (George Lee, an RTE broadcaster who won an election seat and retired to return to RTE within the year, is mentioned.) I don't see Jim Larkin in the index. Neither is covered in the appendix which gives a brief bio of major political figures. Anyone who doesn't think women and their supporters had much input to politics should read the eye-opening, excellent work 'Women Will Vote' about New York suffrage, by Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello.
This book also was published while the EU referendum was up in the air to approve an EU treaty or not. Both the Nice Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty were forced through by telling the Irish electorate that they had got it wrong and would have to vote again until they got it right. On neither occasion was the contents of the treaty anywhere near adequately explained by anyone.
I enjoyed the chapter which looked at how much time and effort TDs give to consituency work as opposed to sitting in the Dail chamber or on committee meetings. However, what was badly needed were some specific cases. If the social welfare are obstructive and unobliging so that a constituent has to approach the TD, an example would have helped to demonstrate that the electorate are not just stupid, and the literature either is or isn't too obscure to be filled out correctly. Instead we get hands-off, distant comments, some TDs say they help constituents and others take advantage of pretending to help. The reader is left wondering which views to trust instead of being able to make up her own mind.
Other chapters cover the role of the Dail in lawmaking, the Taoiseach's department, multi-level government, Northern Ireland, and Europe - co written by Brigid Laffan. I did feel that anyone who wanted to know all that much about certain paperwork aspects should go and read a separate book and let the rest of us get on with general politics.
A brief look at citizen pressure groups says that they are largely unsuccessful in changing policy, but "since Carnsore Point the nuclear power debate has been completely off the political agenda" with no mention of the fact that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster sent radioactive clouds to poison Irish lambs in 1996, nor that Ireland has never had a nuclear power industry and would have had to contract it out to another country. The citizen pressure groups have forced changes like removal of property tax in Dublin, during the 1990s, and recently forced the government to backtrack on a domestic water use tax.
References are placed at the end of each chapter. In the index P471 - 490 I counted 99 names which I could be sure were female (many of whom occur only in the chapter on women), including X. In the biographical notes P456 - 465 I counted five names which I could be sure were female, including two Presidents. I found some tables, all helpful, but no photos.
I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School Library. This is an unbiased review.
Women in politics get one chapter, by Yvonne Galligan. Apart from sundry remarks about voting, cases and referenda. Maybe this book would take on a different flavour if written by women, though two women are among the contributors in this edition. For instance, James Connolly said that the worker is the slave of capitalist society and the female worker is the slave of that slave. I didn't see that quote in this book. I don't see Connolly in the index. (George Lee, an RTE broadcaster who won an election seat and retired to return to RTE within the year, is mentioned.) I don't see Jim Larkin in the index. Neither is covered in the appendix which gives a brief bio of major political figures. Anyone who doesn't think women and their supporters had much input to politics should read the eye-opening, excellent work 'Women Will Vote' about New York suffrage, by Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello.
This book also was published while the EU referendum was up in the air to approve an EU treaty or not. Both the Nice Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty were forced through by telling the Irish electorate that they had got it wrong and would have to vote again until they got it right. On neither occasion was the contents of the treaty anywhere near adequately explained by anyone.
I enjoyed the chapter which looked at how much time and effort TDs give to consituency work as opposed to sitting in the Dail chamber or on committee meetings. However, what was badly needed were some specific cases. If the social welfare are obstructive and unobliging so that a constituent has to approach the TD, an example would have helped to demonstrate that the electorate are not just stupid, and the literature either is or isn't too obscure to be filled out correctly. Instead we get hands-off, distant comments, some TDs say they help constituents and others take advantage of pretending to help. The reader is left wondering which views to trust instead of being able to make up her own mind.
Other chapters cover the role of the Dail in lawmaking, the Taoiseach's department, multi-level government, Northern Ireland, and Europe - co written by Brigid Laffan. I did feel that anyone who wanted to know all that much about certain paperwork aspects should go and read a separate book and let the rest of us get on with general politics.
A brief look at citizen pressure groups says that they are largely unsuccessful in changing policy, but "since Carnsore Point the nuclear power debate has been completely off the political agenda" with no mention of the fact that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster sent radioactive clouds to poison Irish lambs in 1996, nor that Ireland has never had a nuclear power industry and would have had to contract it out to another country. The citizen pressure groups have forced changes like removal of property tax in Dublin, during the 1990s, and recently forced the government to backtrack on a domestic water use tax.
References are placed at the end of each chapter. In the index P471 - 490 I counted 99 names which I could be sure were female (many of whom occur only in the chapter on women), including X. In the biographical notes P456 - 465 I counted five names which I could be sure were female, including two Presidents. I found some tables, all helpful, but no photos.
I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School Library. This is an unbiased review.
June 5, 2024
As a novice, I find this is an excellent comprehensive overview of the Irish political system. It adequately explains the constitutional and institutional components of the system, alongside related political systems. It's easy to read, and actually fairly entertaining for an academic book. It's up to date, and has many references for further reading within each section.
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