The Irish Parliament

By Michelle Fehlhaber, Maja Mortensen and

David Christoffersen.

An interesting day at the Irish Parliament where we both learned about the Seana, the upper house and the Dáil Éireann, the lower house in the parliament.

The Parliament was founded in 1919 and until 1922 the people elected for the Parliament were both seated in the Irish and the British Parliament, both seated in the Palace of Westminster. In the aftermath of the Easter Rising (1918), the Irish party “Sinn Féin” got the majority of the votes and moved the Parliament to Ireland.   

The first thing we were shown in the Irish Parliament was the Round Room of the Mansion House. Here the Dáil Éireann has its hearings and meetings. Eamon Gilmore, the head of the Labour party, held a speech about the cabinet reshuffle, where he thanked former ministers and criticized the new ones. We were seated above the politicians in seats behind a glass wall, with speakers connected to the microphones of the politicians. It was a special experience because of the aggressive talks and interrupting comments during the speech. After witnessing Eamon Gilmore’s speech we were led into a hall with pictures of former Taoisigh (prime ministers). Our guide told us about some of the former Taoisigh and we then moved on to a big staircase and a photo of Countess Constance Markievicz. Constance Markievicz was the first woman to get a seat in the Parliament. But as a member of the party “Sinn Féin” she didn’t take it. Constance was loved by the Irish working class and they lined the street for her funeral in 1927. After the talk on Constance Marikievicz, we were led to the Irish Seanad where we had to be really quiet because we weren’t behind a wall of glass like in the Dáil Éireann. We only sat in the Seanad for a few minutes before we walked into the main hall. Here there were paintings of important people regarding the political history of Ireland, for example, Michael Collins, Eamon de Valera and current president of Ireland Mary McAleese. When we entered the street after the guided tour, people were demonstrating outside the Parliament.

The whole experience was very exciting and it is a good memory to look back on.