Long Live…the Taoiseach and Lord Mayor!

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any schoolhouse rock-esque videos to educate myself on the government in Ireland because those videos are basically how every American kid learned how a bill becomes a law.  Anyway, I’ve been reading up on the government because the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Taoiseach are some of bigO’s biggest clients.  In addition, one of my friends is interning with Josepha Madigan, a TD for Dublin Rathdown and also the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.  Another one of my friends is interning with a Dublin City council member, who is also a former Lord Mayor of Dublin, and now works on urban planning and transportation on the council.  So what’s a Lord Mayor, Taoiseach, and TD? Not a touchdown, read on.

So the way it works!

The leader of the Republic of Ireland is the Taoiseach (say it like tea-shock).  The Taoiseach is nominated and approved by the Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature.  Then the president ceremonially appoints the Taoiseach.  So far I’ve gathered that the president is more of a figure-head, like the queen, than the American version of a president.  The Taoiseach serves for a maximum of 5 years and answers to the Oireachtas.  The Oireachtas members are directly elected by the people.  The Oireachtas can actually  appoint a new Taoiseach before the term limit, which is interesting, but rarely happens.  A TD is an abbreviation for Teachta Dála, which basically means “mini Taoiseach” of a county and some of them are also Ministers of one of seventeen government departments.  Locally, there is a county / city council with seats based on areas of the county.  The council elects a Lord Mayor every year.  The Lord Mayor retains his seat on the council for his year in the position.  The Dublin City Council has 63 seats and is divided into nine local electoral areas.

Now the fun part: I was sitting at my desk settling in to my 10-4 intern routine, when my co-worker said “Melissa, you wanna come to these interviews?”  Anything to get away from the desk, so I said yes and grabbed my bag, having no idea where we were going.  By the time I asked who we were on our way to interview, we were halfway to the Department of Taoiseach…to interview, none other than the Taoiseach.  So that’s the quick version of how I met and shook hands with, Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach of Ireland.  We also interviewed Simon Harris, the Minister for Health and TD for the Wicklow constituency, who played a major role in passing the recent repeal of the Irish Eighth Amendment regarding the legality of abortion.  We also talked to Heather Humphreys, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and TD for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency, about Project Ireland 2040.  My role in this day was basically running across the street to Spar (think Sheetz or Wawa) to grab water and ice cream for politicians.  A fun fact about Leo Varadkar is that he is the first openly gay Taoiseach and he and his husband walked in Montreal Pride with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  So that makes only one degree of separation between me and Justin Trudeau…just sayin!  Here are some pictures of the courtyard interviews at the Government Buildings.

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Earlier I said my friend is working for a city counselor and explained local government, and here’s where that comes in: The new Lord Mayor was elected just a few days ago and always has a small gathering at the mansion after the election.  My friend, about to be the only American intern there, asked me to go too.  He had me at free food and drinks.  The mansion is a house in the city center of Dublin where the Lord Mayor lives for the year.  The first floor is ceremonial and open to the public while the second floor is private quarters for living.

The mansion house is beautiful.  The dark walls are covered with the colorful family crests of every Lord Mayor’s family.  The downstairs felt like a museum that you could actually touch with its old furniture and décor.  Eating mini sausages and macaroons in a mansion with the Lord Mayor of Dublin is probably the fanciest thing I will ever do.  Check out the pictures!

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