Ireland: The Paradox of a Weak Legislature in a Candidate-centered System

The Irish parliament is considered one of the weaker international chambers. The government dominates the legislative process, and parliament is little more than an arena for its members to air constituency grievances. That this happens with the operation of the single transferable vote electoral system, which incentivizes personal behavior by deputies, is a conundrum. We seek to explain legislative activity in the Dáil by focusing on the background of its members from 1989 to 2011. We find that gender and seniority have little effect, and that party hierarchy is important. Generally speaking, those higher up in a party are more active in parliament.