The Dáil

Today we went to the Dáil (pronounced doyle or dawl depending on what part of the country you're in). Essentially it's Ireland's House of Reps. The building is beautiful, but we couldn't take any pictures inside. Still, this was the best group trip yet! The Dáil was in session, so we got to watch some pretty heated debates over the recession and finance reforms. At first the whole parliament was slagging each other and laughing a ton. The debates got a lot more intense, though. One of the TDs (representatives) even got kicked out!! Everyone was shouting and finally the speaker just told Deputy so-and-so to leave the House. While this isn't common, apparently it happens with more frequency than you would expect. It was much more intense political drama than you'd typically witness in the U.S. I love Irish politics!


After history class, we ran into Ken again. Jackie, Colleen and I had met Ken in the DCU library a few weeks back. It's almost impossible to interact with DCU students. They just arrived back on campus in full force this past week. Having all our classes and living with all Americans makes meeting Irish students exceptionally difficult. We told him about our trip, and about the shocking lack of security. They didn't check our bags and we didn't have to present any form of ID. To that he said "well people in America care enough about their political leaders to blow them up!" Like most people we meet, he's shocked by the security measures in the U.S. When we were outside the Dáil we saw the guarda sharing a cigarette and chatting with the protesters (who ironically wanted health care reform). Apparently that's typical. We then talked sports. He finds the Super Bowl to be the weirdest event on the planet. He plays rugby and invited us all to watch a game. Personally, I'd rather check out hurling, because I really can't figure out how its done or any of the rules, but rugby is good too. It's not quite as "Irish" as hurling (which is a sport under the Gaelic Athletic Association), but it's still really popular here.

I'm going out tonight to celebrate my 21st birthday. I didn't get to go out on the 10th. People were still finishing up their papers for sociology, and I've been extremely sick. I'm feeling a bit better now, so it's time for a re-do.