The Presidents Purpose???

paky

What purpose does McAleese serve? Is it absolutley necessary we have someone in office for 14 years on a salary of 360,000 or so?

What does she do?

imme

The role of the Presidency is detailed in Bunreacht na hÉireann/The Constitution of Ireland.
The term of office of the President is 7 years.
President McAleese in into her 2nd term. It will expire in 2011.

Sulmac

If you read the Constitution you'll find out.

Alternatively, the Citizens Information Board's website has an excellent section on the President here.

It's actually an important role (from a legal point of view), though I agree it's not worth the huge salary that comes with it.

RonMexico

To build as many bridges as possible. :pac:




Ok seriously - I guess they act as an ambassador of sorts. I know they have to sign off on stuff but that seems to be a given as I can't ever recall one of them refusing to do so.

Overheal

4 posts in (....5) and nobody can clearly explain what it is she does.

imme wrote:

The role of the Presidency is detailed in Bunreacht na hÉireann/The Constitution of Ireland.

Sulmac wrote:

If you read the Constitution you'll find out.

RonMexico wrote:

I guess...

..........yeah...

walshb

The Presidents purpose is to hand out much needed Christmas hampers to all her staff.
Oh, but not out of her own pocket I wouldn't say.

Iwasfrozen

Overheal wrote: »

4 posts in (....5) and nobody can clearly explain what it is she does.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/the-president/functions_of_the_president

Happy ?

Lockstep

THe main role of the president (in my opinion) is to provide a neutral figure for the nation to rally around, receive foreign officials and so on.. Having a commander in chief and head of state whos' disconnected from the executive and legislature is extremely important (again, in my opinion)

Judgement Day

Given the office of President is a great honour for the holder, why does it need a great salary too? €300,000 plus expenses p.a. I think and I can't see why it needs to be anything approaching that figure.

hmmm

The position of President is crying out for someone to recreate the role. We've gone from father figures hiding out in the Aras without being heard of for years on end to endless streams of Celtic mystical guff.

It would have been wonderful to see the President up in the North West last week asking the country why we are allowing our beautiful Eagles to be wiped out. Or asking why we have some by-elections outstanding for years. Or why tens of thousands are emigrating almost without comment.

You'll always have people saying "that's not the role" of the President which is easily refuted. The functions of the President are specified in the Constitution, from that point on the President can create their own role in society.

Overheal

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/the-president/functions_of_the_president

Happy ?

No because the point I was making is none of you know - you know where to find the information, but you dont know. I can point to the US president and tell you what 90% of his role is about (executive power, the football, veto power, etc etc etc), but in contrast, theres a clear disconnect with the Irish Counterpart.

imme

Overheal wrote: »

No because the point I was making is none of you know - you know where to find the information, but you dont know. I can point to the US president and tell you what 90% of his role is about (executive power, the football, veto power, etc etc etc), but in contrast, theres a clear disconnect with the Irish Counterpart.

The Irish and the US President are not counterparts. They share the same job title but don't fulfill comparable roles. The US President is an Executive President, the Irish President is not an Executive President. The Irish Presidency is comparable to the role of President in other parliamentary democracies like Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria.

The President is above politics,
they appoint the Taoiseach,
they dissolve the Dáil,
they are the Head of The Army,
they sign into law Bills that have been passed by the Oireachtas, they can, before they sign a Bill refer it to the Supreme Court to test it's repugnance to the Constitution.

View

imme wrote: »

The Irish and the US President are not counterparts. They share the same job title but don't fulfill comparable roles. The US President is an Executive President, the Irish President is not an Executive President. The Irish Presidency is comparable to the role of President in other parliamentary democracies like Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria.

The President is above politics,
they appoint the Taoiseach,
they dissolve the Dáil,
they are the Head of The Army,
they sign into law Bills that have been passed by the Oireachtas, they can, before they sign a Bill refer it to the Supreme Court to test it's repugnance to the Constitution.

The President also appoints the Government Ministers, can summon the Council of State, can address the Oireachtas and must be kept informed by the Government (altough I have no idea why the President can't just read the paper like everyone else).

Offhand, I'd like the DPP to be chosen and appointed by the President. That way the Government - whoever they maybe - couldn't rely on "their" DPP ignoring any potential misdemanours they may engage in. Likewise, I'd like to see a political equivalent of the CAB, which would have the power to tackle possible political corruption, being under the wing of the President.

As it is, I don't honestly know why the President shouldn't be elected by the Oireachtas rather than the people, much like the German one is. The Presidential election tends to be the political equivalent of a beauty contest.

MikeC101

Overheal wrote: »

No because the point I was making is none of you know - you know where to find the information, but you dont know.

Nonsense. A few posts that don't explicitly list the functions of the president in no way equates to "none of you know"

In regards to actual hands on running of the state - aside from the function of signing bills into law and having the ability to refer bills to the Supreme Court (our last two presidents have been constitutional lawyers as far as I know) - a lot of the functions are largely ceremonial. Hence people aren't as interested in the role.