Which government best reflects the ‘will of the people’?
By Rory Costello, University of Limerick Government formation is not just a numbers game. Political parties campaign to a large part on policy, and we must assume that people who vote for a party do so...
View ArticleThe limited rules regarding government formation
When the new Dáil meets on March 10th its first job is to elect a Ceann Comhairle. Up to now this has been pre-ordained by the Executive and so took a little time. But now there will be an election by...
View ArticleHelping the government formation discussions along: time for an Irish...
It’s almost four weeks since polling day and there’s still no sign of a government being formed any time soon. The current belief is that when the Dáil next votes on the matter (at its next meeting on...
View ArticleTime taken to form a government is not unusual
Guest post by Brian Hayes MEP The people have voted, the counts have finished and the 32nd Dáil has sat, yet we have no government. People are beginning to get frustrated with the ‘slow’ pace of...
View ArticleCitizens’ assemblies are open to manipulation
One of the side deals done in the attempts to form a government was the idea to send the issue of the 8th amendment to the Constitution to a citizens’ assembly. Convening a convention is a good and...
View ArticleSlow progress forming a Dutch government is no surprise
Talks on forming a new coalition government in the Netherlands collapsed again on Monday evening, when chief negotiator Herman Tjeenk Willink said the four parties involved had decided not to...
View ArticleThe Conservative-DUP Partnership: a path to a soft Brexit
Guest post by Dr Anthony Costello, lecturer in EU Politics and Comparative Government at the Department of Government, University College Cork. Following the recent General Election in the United...
View Article140 Days: With government formation taking longer, do we need a guide?
It took an unprecedented 140 Day for the Irish government to be formed. Does this suggest we need some mechanism to speed up the process?* While it is always theoretically possible to form a majority...
View Article
