A comparison between the Irish and the Dutch Parliament

The Dutch Parliament:
The Estates-General consists out of the First and the Second Chamber and the Prime-minister (Minister-President).
The First Chamber is also referred to as the Senate, or the Upper House.
The Second Chamber can also be referred to as the Lower House. The Second Chamber has the right to come up with law proposals, but it takes the permission of the First Chamber to make it an actual law.

The prime-minister is the chairman of the council of ministers, but formally doesn’t have any special powers. He is called the ‘face of the cabinet’. Together with our Queen the prime-minister represents the Netherlands. They are known practically worldwide.
Formally, the Queen only has a representative role and no political responsibility, but she is the one who selects the " formateur " of a new government or who speaks in secrecy with the ministers and signs the new laws. But her current challenge is to keep the Dutch monarchy modern, efficient, and most of all in tune with the wishes of the Dutch people.

But, before there even are any Chambers, elections have to be held. These elections are held yearly. The Second Chamber is chosen by the inhabitants of the Netherlands. Exclusively by the ones who have the right to vote obviously.
The people who do not have the right to vote are either;
• Minors (under the age of 18),
• People who have been convicted to lose the right to vote (by a judge),
• People with a mental disorder,who are concidered not to be able to participate in this kind of activities concerning our government.

In the Netherlands there are several parties you can vote for. These parties range from liberal parties to socialistic parties, from conservative to progressive parties and so on. So the Dutch voters have a lot to chose from:
• Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen-Democratisch Appèl)
• Christian Union (ChristenUnie)
• Democrats 66 (Democraten 66)
• Green Left (GroenLinks)
• Independent Senate Group (Onafhankelijke Senaatsfractie)
• Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid)
• List Pim Fortuyn (Lijst Pim Fortuyn)
• Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij)
• Political Reformed Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij)
• People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie)
• Europe Transparent (Europa Transparant)
• Frisian National Party (Fryske Nasjonale Partij), active in Friesland
• The Greens (De Groenen)
• Group of Marxist-Leninists/Red Dawn (Groep van Marxisten-Leninisten/Rode Morgen)
• Libertarian Party (Libertarische Partij)
• Liveable Netherlands (Leefbaar Nederland)
• Mobile Netherlands (Nederland Mobiel)
• Naastenliefde, Vrijheid & Diversiteit (NVD) - Neighborly Love, Freedom, and Diversity
• New Communist Party of the Netherlands (Nieuwe Communistische Partij Nederland)
• New Right (Nieuw Rechts) - a split from Leefbaar Rotterdam
• Offensive (Offensief), a revolutionary socialist organisation.
• Party for Justice, Action and Progress (Partij voor Rechtvaardigheid, Daadkracht en Vooruitgang)
• Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren)
• Progressive Integration Party (Vooruitstrevende Integratie Partij)
• Party New Limburg (Partij Nieuw Limburg)
• Socialist Alternative Politics (SAP) - Socialistisch Alternatieve Politiek. Previously: Socialist Worker's Party (Socialistische Arbeiderspartij)

There is one little problem though. One party on its own in the Second Chamber would never get enough votes do have things done their way. So they hook up with another party, whose point of view matches their own. They form a coaltition. This way they are practically assured of a majority in the government.
So, when a coalition finally nests it the Second Chamber, there still isn’t any First Chamber. The First Chamber is chosen by the members of the First Chamber.
Now the parliament is completed and they can start ruling our counrty. A few of the things the First and the Second Chamber have to take care of are;
• Legislation
• Deciding about certain laws (or law proposals)
• Dicussing about policies not included in excisting laws
• Deciding about important subjects concerning foreign policy and the European Union
• Compiling “adviesorganen” and set out their tasks etc.
• Appointing and firing ministers, senior judges etc.

The Dutch parliament is located in the so called the Inner Court (Binnenhof) in The Hague.

The Irish parliament:
The Oireachtas can be divided into three parts: The President of Ireland, the Taoiseach, the Dáil Éireann and the Seanad Éireann.
The Seanad Éireann is also called the Senate. The Dáil Éireann is by far more powerfull than the Seanad Éireann. The two houses are often collectively called the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The President cannot be compared to out Queen, nor can it be compared to our prime-minister. The President is literally the head of the government, it it the highest position in the Irish politics. The President can decide about practically everything, but does exercise certain limited powers at his/her absolute caution.

Just like in the Netherlands elections have to be held to form a new parliament. But these are held at least once every five years.
The Dáil Éireann is chosen by the inhabitants of Ireland. And once again, obviousely exclusively by the ones who have the right to vote. EU citizens who are both living in Ireland and at least 18 years of age have the right to vote.
The candidates have once again formed parties. Just like in The Netherlands there is a wide range of different parties. The parties active in Ireland at the moment are;
• Fianna Fáil
• Fine Gael
• Labour Party
• Progressive Democrats
• Green Party
• Sinn Féin
• Socialist Party
• Independent Fianna Fáil
• Communist Party of Ireland
• Christian Solidarity Party
• Irish Republican Socialist Party
• Sinn Féin Poblachtach
• Socialist Workers Party
• Workers Party

But, like I already explained for the Dutch parliament, to get the majority of the votes some parties form a coalition.
Once this coalition is formed, the President appoints the Taoiseach. This is the leader of the Irish cabinet. The Taoiseach has the power to dissolve the Dáil Éireann at any time.
Together with the Dáil Éireann, the Taoiseach appoints the members of the Seanad Éireann; 49 members will be elected by councillors and parliamentarians and 11 of them will be elected by the Taoiseach.

Now we have a complete parliament. A few of the responsibilities of the Houses of the Oireachtas are;
• Legislation
• Creating “back-up” legislation
• Proposing changes to the constitution by a referendum (Dáil)
• Raising military or armed forces.
• Allowing international agreements to become part of the law

The Houses of the Oireachtas are located in the Leinster House in Dublin.

Table
A clearer overview of the differences and similarities between the Irish and the Dutch parliaments

The Dutch Parliament The Irish Parliament
Other name? Estates-General (State-Generaal) Oireachtas
Consists of: Prime-minister, Second and First Chamber President, Taoiseach, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann
Number of parties: Lots of different parties can be elected, several parties in the parliament Lots of different parties can be elected, several parties in the parliament
Elections? Yearly Dáil Éireann/Seanad Éireann/ Taoiseach: at least once every five years
President: once in seven years
Role: The Second Chamber comes up with ideas, the First Chamber can approve of decline them. The Dáil Éireann and the Seanad Éireann can come up with things and decide things. Though the Dáil is the most powerfull of the two, they do need the signature of the President to be able to do something.
Role of the chairman during a meeting: Everything that’s said goes via the chairman The chairman “just” sits and listens, nothing goes through him.
Responsibilities (some of them): • Legislation
• Deciding about certain laws (or law proposals)
• Dicussing about policies not included in excisting laws
• Deciding about important subjects concerning foreign policy and the European Union
• Compiling “adviesorganen” and set out their tasks etc. • Legislation
• Creating “back-up” legislation
• Proposing changes to the constitution by a referendum (Dáil)
• Raising military or armed forces.
• Allowing international agreements to become part of the law

The Troubles

The religious aspect
Religion and class are the two major influencing elements of political loyalty in Northern Ireland. Religious commitment is sometimes, but not normally, an indication of extreme political views.

There has always been rivalry between all the different religions. All of them wanted to show their religion is the best in the world, and some religions are willing to go as far as killing people to make others believe it.
But now the Unionists, who were mostly protestant, wanted Northern Ireland to stay under British control, the bomb bursted. Not only was there a lot of rivalry between the two religions in general, but the Protestant church in England and other regions of the United Kingdom is typically used to refer to the established Church of England.
So now there were two reasons for the Nationalists, who are mainly Roman Catholic, to carry harted against the Protestant Unionists.
The Roman Catholics think Northern Ireland should also become independent, just like the Southern part. Therefore they usually highlight their Irish accent and culture. The Nationalists think that, because they are Catholic, they are descendants of the native inhabitants of Ireland. And therefore they believe they are the only ones who have the right to claim Ireland as their own, not the Roman Catholic Brits.

Religion now a days
Today, Ireland is still a rather religious country, compared to the rest of Europe.
Although in many countries there are uncountable many different religions, either small or big, in Ireland you can clearly see that even today Roman Catholics and Protestants play a big role in Ireland’s community.

Sources:

Comparison between the Irish and the Dutch Parliament
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oireachtas
The Irish parliament
http://www.answers.com/Dutch%20Parliament
The Dutch parliament

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_president
The Irish President
http://home.planet.nl/~avril/queen.html
The Dutch Queen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Prime_Minister
The Dutch Prime-minister

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_political_parties
Irish parties
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=List+of+political+parties+in+the+Netherlands&curtab=2222_1&linktext=Political%20parties
Dutch Parties

The troubles, the religious aspect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles
General information about the Troubles