Irish Politics

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Simon

Todd

Todd: So, Ruth, you're from Ireland.

Ruth: Yes, that's right.

Todd: And could you talk a little bit about the government in Ireland, like do you have a president or a prime minister?

Ruth: In fact, we have both. We have a president, Mary McAleese, and then there's another set, anotherruling body

, where the head is called the Taoiseach, which is Irish for Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister at the moment is a man called Bertie Ahern.

Todd: So you have two Prime Ministers.

Ruth: We have a president and then we have a Prime Minister.

Todd: OK, and the woman is the

Ruth: The woman is the President. Mary McAleese is the president.

Todd: OK, well, who actually has the power? Who makes the decisions?

Ruth: Normally I think it's the Taoiseach, the Prime Minister, that makes most of the decisions, and he's over the government. He decides the government.

Todd: OK, and what's that title called, Taoiseach.

Ruth: Taoiseach

Todd: Taoiseach

Ruth: It's Irish.

Todd: OK, so that's like Gaelic

.

Ruth: Yeah. Yeah. There are still some parts of Ireland that's the Gaelic and, and also because it's one of the official languages. A lot of things will have an Irish name and an English name as well.

Todd: So how do you choose the "Taoiseach".

Ruth: The Taoiseach is chosen by the people. So we vote in the Prime Minister, but we also vote in the President as well. We get to choose both.

Todd: OK, well, that's quite interesting. Do theelections

 happen at the same time?

Ruth: No, usually they happen seperately.

Todd: OK, so what's the point of having the President?

Ruth: I'm not sure. I don't really know. I'm not big into politics, so I'm not sure how the whole thing works.

Todd: Right, right.

Ruth: But I just know that we have a president as well.

Todd: Well, have you ever had a female "Taoiseach", a female Prime Minister?

Ruth: There's never been a female "Taoiseach", only female presidents. We've had two female presidents. Mary McAleese and before her, Mary Robinson.

Todd: OK, now is Ireland do most of the people vote? Do you have a high voter turnout

?

Ruth: Quite a lot of people do vote. Mainly, older people, though. Younger people don't vote so much.

Todd: That's not good.

Ruth: No, not very good at all.

Todd: Yeah, I think in the states it's like 50%, or going down.

Ruth: It's probably that, but maybe on the lower side

.

Todd: OK, well, thanks Ruth.

Ruth: No problem.