As much as I love GW, I often find myself, as many of my fellow Washingtonians do, getting just a little tired of the way that politics can constantly invade other aspects of our everyday lives. This is truer than ever in wake of the government shutdown. As expected, coming to Ireland has provided a break from the type of intense political divides that we can often see in the US. However, what has surprised me most about Ireland is not just that it has its own deeply divisive political matters, but that people with differing views are actually able to coexist with each knowing full well that the people around them don’t agree with them even remotely.
When I arrived in Ireland, the nation was on the eve of a referendum vote to abolish the Seanad, which is one of the houses of the Irish Parliament. The Seanad has weaker powers than the Dail, the other house in Ireland’s parliament and can’t actually veto any legislation, just delay it. Abolishing the Seanad would reduce the number of politicians and subsequently free up funds to replenish Ireland’s struggling economy. During the 2011 election for Taioseach, or Irish Prime Minister, the Fine Gael party promised that if they were to take office, they would pursue a referendum to abolish the Seanad. When the Fine Gael candidate, Enda Kenny, won the election, his administration continued with the agenda to hold the referendum to have the Seanad abolished, which was scheduled for October 4th. Throughout Ireland, you could see posters advocating both the abolition of the Seanad (produced by the Fine Gael party for the most part) as well as some advocating for the continuation of the Seanad (largely produced by the Fianna Fail party). When I participated in a homestay for a weekend, the family that I stayed with shared with me that they were in favor of getting rid of the Seanad because, they found it to be a waste of money when it had, what many considered, little impact on governance. My Irish roommate also mentioned that she would be voting in favor of abolishing the Seanad and said that it was very likely that most Irish people would vote that way as well.
I also had some lecturers weigh in on the referendum as the vote loomed closer. For example, my political science lecturer is actually an adjunct lecturer who works full time as a lobbyist. He is currently working on the campaign to keep the Seanad. As we were leaving class the day before the referendum, he actually stopped all of us before we could leave the room to hand us some literature on this issue and asked us to vote in favor of keeping it. My history professor also asked our class who would be voting in the upcoming referendum. Since my history class is filled predominantly with visiting students from other countries, only about five people in the class raised their hands. He then asked them who would be voting to keep it and who would be voting to abolish it, with both groups answering by a show of hands. After asking this question, he just went back to lecturing without using the referendum as any sort of jumping off point.
There are a number of things that I find striking about the referendum. The first is the fact that in just a little over two years, a bill to abolish one of the parliamentary houses and drastically change the constitution has been drafted, published, approved by the government and brought to an official vote without any interference. I’m also amazed that such large-scale government changes can be enacted so fast. Were Fine Gael to be successful in this referendum, Ireland would go from having a two-house parliament to a one-house parliament, just like that. Another thing that strikes me about the whole situation is that it isn’t taboo to talk about it at all. A professor distributing materials on a political campaign he is personally involved with and could benefit from would be considered highly inappropriate in the US, but here no one had a problem with it at all. Everyone in the class just politely accepted and said “Thank you.” If a professor asked his students to share how they would be voting in an upcoming election openly in class, it would be at least somewhat controversial and even be called unethical by some. I was also struck by the fact that there were people literally sitting right next to each other who openly admitted that they would be voting differently and no comments were made whatsoever. No snide remarks, nothing offensive, no dirty looks. No one seemed to have any problem with the people around them having an opinion that completely opposes theirs.
In the end, the Irish government ended up retaining the Seanad after an incredibly close vote with 51.7% of voters in favor of keeping it and 48.3% wishing to abolish it. Even though I won’t be able to say that I lived in Ireland when the Seanad was abolished, being here for this important election has not just helped me in learning how the Irish government is structured, but also about Irish political culture and how people here approach politics.