The original professions of politicians

[locke]

I thought this was an interesting enough discussion that it would warrant separation from the Shannon thread where it was raised.

Ideally our politicians would be representative of the community in general, however it seems that certain professions are significantly over-represented in the Dail. Anecdotally, lawyers, teachers and farmers are there in significant numbers. The most significantly under-represented group would seem to be people who were employees of private-sector companies.

Is this down to the time demands of political involvement or some other factor? Is there anything we can do to increase the spread of people who go into politics? Is it something we should be concerned about or should we just trust people to do a good job regardless of their background?

Also beyond anecdotal evidence, does anyone have any hard figures about the previous professions of our TDs and senators?

[Aindriu]

I thought this was an interesting enough discussion that it would warrant separation from the Shannon thread where it was raised.

Ideally our politicians would be representative of the community in general, however it seems that certain professions are significantly over-represented in the Dail. Anecdotally, lawyers, teachers and farmers are there in significant numbers. The most significantly under-represented group would seem to be people who were employees of private-sector companies.

Is this down to the time demands of political involvement or some other factor? Is there anything we can do to increase the spread of people who go into politics? Is it something we should be concerned about or should we just trust people to do a good job regardless of their background?

Also beyond anecdotal evidence, does anyone have any hard figures about the previous professions of our TDs and senators?

Where did the "Previous" come from? My understanding is that they continue to practise their professions as they wish.

[locke]

Where did the "Previous" come from? My understanding is that they continue to practise their professions as they wish.

Some do; most don't.

Perhaps "Professional background of politicians" would have been a better thread title.

[wexfordman]

Wexford:-

Howlin:- Teacher I beleive, until recently
Browne:- Dont Know
Connick: Is he self employed ?
Darcy Jnr:- Apparantly a solicitor, teacher, farmer and CC according to his election leaflets, busy man that he is.

[ivnryn]

Some professions are alot more forgiving of being a TD.

If you are a civil servant (or maybe just teachers), you have the right to restart your employment where you left off, if you don't manage to get reelected. This is not an option for a private sector worker, they are likely to lose their job if they become a TD. This is somewhat discriminatory against private sector workers.

Also, given that the job of a TD is technically a legislator, an excess of people with legal experience is perhaps not a bad thing. However, that needs to be balanced against bias towards the legal profession.

Other jobs like publican have the advantage that there is some interaction with the public, so is probably why they are over-represented. Also, a self-employed person has a little more control of their free time.

Also, if your job depends on the government for its continued existance (or even where the government has a major say in it), you are likely to be more political.

[clareman51]

Teachers have a lot of time on their hands. I spoke to a good friend of mine who was a school principal. He was moaning about the pressure of work. I told him to f-off, that he worked until 3 in the afternoon, with every weekend off, and more holidays and days off than any other profession, not to mention the pension etc. He burst out laughing and said that I was right. For some teachers, it is not the vocation but the time off they like.

[wexfordman]

With regards teachers, I beleive that what used to happen until recently, was that if a teacher got elected, then a temp would be allocated in his/her place, while his/her position was kept open until/if he/she decided to return to teaching (or the electorate decided for him/her).

The difference in salary paid to the temp stand in was also paid to the new td.

I may well be off on this, but it was something along these lines, and there was a story a while back listing the td's that had kept thier old positions opened and taken the salary left over. Would be interesting to see a list of these td's again.

[Colmog]

Some professions are alot more forgiving of being a TD.

If you are a civil servant (or maybe just teachers), you have the right to restart your employment where you left off, if you don't manage to get reelected. This is not an option for a private sector worker, they are likely to lose their job if they become a TD. This is somewhat discriminatory against private sector workers.

Also, given that the job of a TD is technically a legislator, an excess of people with legal experience is perhaps not a bad thing. However, that needs to be balanced against bias towards the legal profession.

As I understand it, about a third of our TD's are teachers...that could be a bit out but the source for it was good.

No doubt that the community links, long holidays and security help.

There was a bit if a storm last year when it was revealed that a number of very senior politicians continued to have their posts held open, preventing any permanent to the post often for 20 years and more, plus getting paid some of the salary for the post, plus accruing pension entitlements for that role as well as their TD pension.

[KingKane]

I wrote this in March which covers the previous cabinet.

http://www.irishelection.com/03/did-any ... -a-living/

[TheBear]

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