Dáil Éireann

Le Dáil Éireann est le nom irlandais de la chambre basse du Parlement (les Oireachtas) de la République d'Irlande. Il est directement élu tous les cinq ans selon un système de représentation proportionnelle (selon la méthode du vote transférable). Il a le pouvoir de voter les lois, de nommer et de remplacer le Taoiseach (Gouvernement). Il se réunit depuis 1922 dans la Leinster House à Dublin.

Composition

L'actuel 29^e Dail a 166 députés. Pour être élu, il faut avoir au moins 21 ans. Les membres du Dáil sont appelés, en irlandais, TDs (Teachta Dála) ou en anglais, deputy/ies.

Election

L'électorat du Dáil consiste dans l'ensemble des citoyens irlandais ou britanniques ayant plus de 18 ans et résidant en Irlande. Le Taoiseach (head of government) peut demander au président d'Irlande de dissoudre le Dáil à tout moment : dans ce cas, l'élection intervient dans les 30 jours. Néanmoins, les élections se déroulent généralement tous les 5 ans (même si la Constitution donne une législature de 7 ans).

Jusqu'en 1989, un seul parti, le plus souvent le Fianna Fáil, remportait les élections. Depuis 1990, en règle générale, c'est une coalition de partis qui gouverne l'Irlande (dont le Fine Gael, le Labour, les Démocrates progressistes, etc.). Actuellement, c'est une coaltion du Fianna Fail et des DPs qui dirige le gouvernement.

Chaque circonscription élit entre 3 et 5 TDs (la moyenne est de 3,9 TDs). Les limites des circonscriptions sont revues au moins tous les douze ans, en fonction de la population.

Le nombre de députés, depuis 1981, a été fixé à 166 TDs.

Ceann Comhairle

Main article: Ceann Comhairle

The speaker, or presiding member, of Dáil Éireann is the Ceann Comhairle. The Ceann Comhairle is chosen from among TDs but is expected to observe strict impartiality. Despite this, the government will usually try to select one of its own for the position, if its numbers allow. In order to protect the neutrality of the chair, an incumbent Ceann Comhairle does not seek re-election as a TD but rather is deemed automatically to have been re-elected by their constituency at a general election, unless they are retiring. The Ceann Comhairle does not vote except in the event of a tie. In this event they generally vote in accordance with the parliamentary conventions relating to the Speaker of the British House of Commons.

Powers

à traduire

While in principle Dáil Éireann is only one of three components of the Oireachtas, the other two being the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann, in practice the powers the constitution grants to the Dáil render it by far the dominant branch, meaning that most bills passed by Dáil Éireann will ultimately become law. In addition to its legislative role, it is the Dail that designates the Taoiseach. The Dáil may also pass a motion of no confidence in the Government, in which case the Taoiseach must either seek a parliamentary dissolution or resign². The Dáil also has exclusive power to:

• Propose the budget (which may not originate in the Senate).
• Ratify treaties.
• Declare war or permit the state to participate in a war.

Activities

Dáil Éireann determines its own standing orders and its members are protected by certain rights arising from parliamentary privilege. In line with other modern parliamentary systems, TDs do not generally vote first and foremost in accordance with their consciences or the wishes of their constituents, but must follow the instructions of party whips. Except in exceptional circumstances, the Dáil meets in public.

Histoire

Précurseurs

The first legislature to exist in Ireland was the Parliament of Ireland and the first legislative lower house was the House of Commons of this body. However the Parliament of Ireland was abolished under the Act of Union of 1800. Irish nationalists first convened Dáil Éireann as a revolutionary parliament in 1919 but it was not recognised under British law.

In 1921 the British government established a legislature called the Parliament of Southern Ireland in an effort to appease nationalists by granting Ireland limited home rule. However this body was rejected and boycotted by nationalists whose allegiance remained with the Dáil. Nonetheless, because the First Dáil was illegal under the British constitution, the lower house of the Parliament of Southern Ireland, the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, may be considered a precursor to the Dáil as it exists today.

Le 1^er Dáil (1919)

Main article: Dáil Éireann (1919-1922)

The current Dáil derives from the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, but claims a direct line of descent from the 'First Dáil' of 1919. The First Dáil was an extra-legal assembly established by Sinn Féin MPs elected to the House of Commons in the 1918 UK General Election. Upon winning a majority of Irish seats in the election (many uncontested), Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the British parliament and instead convened as the First Dáil Éireann (translated as "Assembly of Ireland"): the unicameral legislature of a new notional Irish Republic, and the first Irish parliament to exist since 1801. The Dáil of the Irish Republic, however, never received either international recognition or the recognition of the UK government.

The first meeting of the Dáil occurred in Dublin, in the Mansion House. Subsequently the body was forced underground and met in number of locations.

Irish Free State (Etat libre d'Irlande) (1922-1937)

Main article: Dáil Éireann (Irish Free State)

The Dáil of the Irish Republic was succeeded in 1922 by the Dáil of the Irish Free State. The Irish Free State, comprising the twenty-six southern counties of the island of Ireland, was established under the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. Dáil Éireann (now described as a "Chamber of Deputies") became the lower house of a new legislature called the Oireachtas. The first Dáil to exist under the constitution of the Irish Free State succeeded the Second Dáil of the Irish Republic and so was styled the Third Dáil. The Third Dáil, and every subsequent Dáil, has met in Leinster House.

Constitution d'Irlande (1937-à nos jours)

La Constitution d'Irlande, adoptée en 1937, fonde l'Etat irlandais moderne, auquel il est fait référence comme République d'Irlande. Selon la Constitution, le Parlement s'appelle Oireachtas, et sa chambre basse reste le Dáil Éireann (bien que souvent décrite comme une Chambre des Représentants). Le premier Dáil à se réunir selon les termes de la Constitution est généralement désigné comme le IX^e Dáil, pour marquer la continuité avec les précédents.

Le 29^e Dáil (mai 2002- à nos jours)

(Government coalition parties in italics)

Notes de bas de page

1. Dáil Éireann est un mot irlandais qui se prononce, à peu près [Dɔɫ ɛɑɾɨɴ] ;
2. C'est arrivé une seule fois sans qu'il n'y ait une élection législative : en 1994, John Bruton du Fine Gael devint Taoiseach lorsque le Labour quitta le gouvernement Fianna Fáil d'Albert Reynolds.

Voir aussi

• (en) Houses of the Oireachtas (Site officiel du Parlement en anglais et irlandais)

See also: Dáil Éireann, 1800, 1801, 1918, 1919