The Political Role of the President of Ireland

Bibliographic Data

ID6074095
AuthorsMichael Gallagher (0000-0002-3858-0130, Trinity College Dublin, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume27
Issue4
Pages522-538
Publication date2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIrish Political Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0790-7184 • E-ISSN: 1743-9078
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07907184.2012.734446
OpenAlexW2094376672
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited10

The formal constitutional powers of the President of Ireland define the framework within which the office holder can act, but they tell only part of the story. The main powers of the President are the right to refer bills to the Supreme Court for a decision on their constitutionality and, in certain circumstances, to refuse a prime ministerial request for a dissolution of parliament. Within the parameters of the constitution presidents might choose either a maximalist or a minimalist interpretation of the role, and in practice the latter has prevailed, perhaps due in some measure to path dependency. It is difficult to argue that any aspects of government policy would have been different had any presidential election produced a different outcome, though on occasions presidents have wielded ‘soft power’ in a way that has had political repercussions. The article also addresses the question of what would happen if a president were to ‘go rogue’ by refusing to abide by the letter of the constitution, highlighting the difficulty of removing a president from office

Constitution · Constitutionality · Enumerated powers · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Separation of powers · Sociology · Supreme court · Irish and British Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Political Systems and Governance

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