Eoin O’Malley

Ministerial Selection in Ireland: Limited Choice in a Political Village

Abstract Comparatively, Taoisigh have one of the most restricted pools from which to select ministers. This has an impact on the ability of Taoisigh to deselect ministers, which in turn affects the choices Taoisigh make in constructing their cabinets. This article argues that the small and stable political elite in Ireland cause personal relationships and loyalty to be important in Irish politics. As a result Taoisigh tend to be conservative when selecting ministers. Only those TDs with experience or who are well known tend to be selected as ministers. Empirical analysis predicting cabinet membership confirms this and other expectations.

Commercialism and Election Framing: A Content Analysis of Twelve Newspapers in the 2011 Irish General Election

The framing of elections represents the most overt instance of the media’s power to influence politics. We content analyzed twelve newspapers’ coverage of the 2011 general election in Ireland. Ireland’s newspaper market has some special advantages for social scientists, as it allows us to separate the newspaper types/formats (tabloid vs. broadsheet) from their commercial basis (vulnerability or otherwise to short-term sales and profits). Therefore, we are able to make a particular contribution to the long-standing debate about the interaction of free market capitalism and the media. Our results do not find a homogeneous general election frame in Ireland. The variation in framing across Irish newspapers was much greater than that between the five countries for which we can find strictly comparable results. The different commercial statuses of the newspapers do seem to be related to different dominant frames of election coverage, but only after we develop a new measure that takes account of the relative overall prominence of election coverage in the newspapers examined.

Civil Compliance and “Political Luddism” Explaining Variance in Social Unrest During Crisis in Ireland and Greece

When badly hit by the same global financial and economic crisis in the early 2000s, the Irish and the Greek societies reacted in quite different ways. Whereas Ireland remained largely acquiescent and displayed a high degree of civil compliance, Greeks took massively to the streets using violence and attacking specifically the state and the state personnel, a phenomenon we refer to as “political Luddism.” It is shown that the two countries are quite similar in terms of their economic condition, cultural background, social composition, ideological profiling, and party system dynamics, among other factors. What, then, explains the two countries’ dissimilar reactions to crisis? Through a detailed analysis of the cases, the article offers evidence that the most compelling explanation relates to the varying ability of the Greek and Irish states to continue providing basic public goods and other state-related services to their respective societies.

When do deliberative citizens change their opinions? Evidence from the Irish Citizens’ Assembly

Many claims have been made for the impact of deliberative democracy in generating change in people’s opinions, and often in predictable ways. It is claimed that people involved in deliberation change their minds on important issues. We also know that political participation and attitudes towards certain issues depend on political knowledge and civic education. To what extent are these linked? Do certain types of people react differently to their involvement in deliberation and is opinion change contingent on the varying capacities and knowledge of participants? Using data from a nationwide exercise in deliberative democracy carried out in Ireland we find some evidence that the ‘deliberative’ citizen, or at least the citizen most likely to shift opinion following deliberation, is under 65, with median levels of knowledge. We also find that heterogeneous groups are important for deliberation to be effective.

Punch Bags for Heavyweights? Minor Parties in Irish Government

Abstract While for much of the twentieth century Irish governments consisted of single parties, coalition government is now much more common. Furthermore, it is usual for minor parties to be part of these governments. This article looks at why minor parties come into existence, their policy performance in government and the electoral impact of government on minor parties. It is argued that the three are related – that minor parties emerge when larger parties have problems of policy ‘appropriateness’ (a large party is not seen as credible to deliver or cannot advocate certain non‐mainstream policies) and ‘governability’ (a larger party is not widely seen as an acceptable/credible basis for a potential government). Larger parties take minor parties into government to solve both problems and ‘concede’ policy to them, which may have the effect of ‘smothering’ the minor party in government, leading to its demise.

Does commercial orientation matter for policy-game framing? A content analysis of television and radio news programmes on public and private stations

This article examines the relationship between different ownership types in broadcast news to determine the portrayal of election coverage as a strategic game against a focus on policy issues. Using a content analysis of six television and radio programmes during the 2011 Irish general election, we test hypotheses about differences in coverage provided by public service programming with equivalent private sector coverage. Our findings improve upon two key aspects of earlier research on game-policy frames. First, we show that commercial outlets can produce content that has democratic value, and suggest that before reaching definitive judgements not only it is necessary to distinguish between radio and television programmes but it is also advisable to study individual programming on each medium. Second, in a key market segment, we show that there is a clear distinction between editorial choices on policy content between public and private radio. These findings suggest that policy-orientated private programming may react to factors such as a culture of public service broadcasting as well as regulatory interventionism. We also suggest that there are cases where policy-rich private programming is driven by different editorial values from its public counterpart which can benefit the public.

Fianna Fáil: the glue of ambiguity

‘Remember also that it is nearly impossible to translate the words “Fianna Fail”,’ Mr De Valera said with a smile. ‘There is some advantage in that also.’ (McInerney, 1976)Fianna Fail, for many, is...

The (not-so-surprising) non-partisanship of the Irish Supreme Court

ABSTRACT There is a growing literature which argues that courts are effectively legislators. As a result, political leaders have an incentive to control judicial decisions by appointing justices whose policy preferences are as close to their own as possible. For this reason, in many countries judicial appointments to the highest courts have become highly politicised. This can be for a number of reasons. One is the ideology of the Justices, the other is their strategic incentives. Irish parties display small ideological differences, but deep partisan ones. We could expect partisan heritage to have an impact on judicial decisions. We test this expectation on Ireland, a common-law country with, it has been argued, one of the most activist judiciaries in the world, and a highly politicised and partisan appointments’ process. Ireland is therefore a country in which we would expect partisan heritage to be reflected in judicial decisions. We analyse over 5,000 decisions of the Irish Supreme Court and despite rigorous testing we find no evidence of partisanship in decision-making.

The leadership difference? Context and choice in Fianna Fáil’s party leadership

ABSTRACT It is generally thought that leaders are important for the performance and activities of political parties. In Fianna Fáil those leaders usually hold the office of Taoiseach, allowing Fianna Fáil to set the agenda for, and react to, changes in Irish society. We investigate the extent to which the individual choice of leader might make a difference. We assess the political and policy management of Fianna Fáil’s leaders using a series of counterfactual case studies for each leader to enable us to establish how these leaders shaped the party and the country. Taking account of the traits of the specific leader while assessing the context in which they led, and using evidence from interviews, memoirs, and a wide secondary literature, we find that in some cases the leader was instrumental in bringing about a change in direction that was unlikely to have taken place under anyone else’s leadership.

70 Days: Government Formation in 2016

It was 70 days between election day and the formation of the government, which was composed of Fine Gael (FG) and a number of independents, with the expressed willingness of Fianna Fail (FF) to support it or abstain on key votes in a ‘confidence and supply’ deal. The election campaign provided little clarity in terms of government options outside the incumbent administration, so when that proved to be not viable, the process of government formation took longer than ever before. The chapter outlines the possible coalition alternatives and analyses the negotiations between FG, FF, independents and other parties, highlighting the stumbling block that needed to be overcome, and assesses the durability of the resultant administration.