The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins also known as Uachtarán na hÉireann has a large role in the government formation. I’m going to discuss how the President formally appoints the Taoiseach and other officials of the government as well as acceptance of their resignations.
The office holders that the President has the power to appoint that I will discuss are the following:
- Taoiseach of Ireland. (Leo Varadkar)
- The attorney General. (Chief of law officers of the state)
- Commissioned officers of the defence forces.
- Judges of the Irish law system.
The appointment of the Taoiseach is not a decision that is made solely by the president. As directed by the constitution of Ireland, The Taoiseach is nominated by a vote held by the Oireachtas and its’ members. The Oireachtas consists of two houses. The first house is Dáil Éireann also known as the house of representation, and the second house is the senate, also called Seanad Éireann. When the vote is closed and they have formally appointed someone, the office of the president is notified. The president summons Dáil Éireann and dissolves the Dáil in order to make his decision. Therefore, the President is usually obliged to appoint whom the Dáil have voted. Nevertheless, the president has the right to refuse whomever was chosen.
127 our experts are availableright now
Secondly, I’m going to outline the process of appointing the Attorney General or the chief law officers of Ireland.
The President of Ireland does not have many tasks himself but he appoints other who carry out official duties for the government. One of these is the Attorney general. The Attorney general is not a member of the government but has many roles. These consist of representing public rights and all public legal proceedings, giving legal advice and sometimes working as a lawyer. Providing a solicitor’s service is also one of the main tasks that the attorney general must handle in all civil courts of Ireland.
Ireland’s current attorney general is Séamus Woulfe, His main task is to advise the government and the President of Ireland on the constitutionality of bills. and if the president refers a bill the attorney general must be present before signing.
The procedure of electing the Attorney general is not carried out by the president alone, the Taoiseach nominates an attorney general and appoints him/her to the president. To qualify for this role, you are required to be a lawyer and to be politically associated with the party in power. The attorney general has the power to leave if there are changes made to the government.
Appointing Judges is a crucial task not just for the President, but for the people of Ireland in order to keep the law intact. The President’s decision on which federal judges and supreme court justices is very likely the most important legacy. This is because these judges serve for life even after the current president resigns. The appointment of federal judges is made from a large choice of candidates.
The constitution provides the president with over 600 judges to sit on district courts, and nearly 200 or more judges make it to the courts of appeal, and 9 justices make up the supreme courts. Once the constitution has nominated the judges of Ireland, the Senate (Seanad Éireann) is also required to confirm the nominations made by the constitution.
An efficient and powerful process for recommending district judges is called senatorial courtesy. According to this process, the senators from the state make the decision on who is chosen.
A nomination is then sent to the president by the senator. He almost always follows the recommendation and to not support the recommendation could possibly cause conflict between the two parties. A president relies on many sources to recommend nominees for judicial posts and he is obliged to take these factors into consideration. Considerations such as the experience of the judge, judges with personal loyalties to a party, political ideology and ethnicity and gender are also taken into account.
After all the consideration, the President makes his decision with the help of the senate and signs the constitution to make it official.
Thirdly, upon the advice of the government, the President of Ireland also appoints the commissioned officers of the defence forces. There are many roles that the President appoints such as the office of inspector-general, the office of chief of staff of the defence force and the office of quartermaster-general of the defence forces. The president has the power to dismiss any officer of their role upon the advice of the government. An officer may request a resignation of their commission from the president. The President has the right to refuse or accept the resignation.
In conclusion, during my research of the President of Ireland I have concluded that the role does not have much power alone. Therefore, this sparks the question whether he should hold more power in the running of the country and in the office?
As we know there is no demand for change in the government but in order to expand the president’s power, a re-structuring of the government would be in order. As of this moment the president can not execute functions such as the selection of judges without the proposal of the government or the constitution.
If the president was to have his powers extended and was allowed to make decisions in the area of the executive it might cause some changes. These changes, in my opinion, would consist of the participation of the president in party politics and the appointment of government officials would become a contentious political issue in the election of the president. If the President was to gain more power, he would become accountable to the courts and the two Houses, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, as the government is accountable in the present day and this would reduce their accountability. Since all decisions of appointments are determined by law there is no need for change.
The Presidents ability to influence the structure of the Irish government could be improved although that will result in other parties having less authority and having many specialized tasks reduced.
Bibliography
- https://www.gov.ie/en/role/14142307-an-taoiseach/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1924/act/16/enacted/en/print.html
- http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1937/act/41/enacted/en/print#sec2
- https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/supreme-court-rejects-appeal-over-appointment-of-part-time-defence-forces-ombudsman-971229.html
- https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/how-to-be-taoiseach-a-guide-to-ireland-s-most-powerful-job-1.3113639
- https://www.ushistory.org/gov/9d.asphttps://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/task-of-selecting-district-and-circuit-court-presidents-begins-1.3862821
- https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/national_government/the_irish_government/the_attorney_general.html
- http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1954/act/18/enacted/en/htmlhttps://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2020-02-20/10/
