The Notre Dame Irish Parliamentary Survey

The Notre Dame Irish Parliamentary Survey is an originally designed and implemented survey that Irish parliamentarians (typically nearly two thirds have participated in the past) after the 2007 and 2011 Irish general elections. The survey’s third round will be conducted in summer 2016 after the next general election and will consolidate the position of this regular election study as a mainstay of scholarship on Irish politics and comparative studies of party competition. The survey identifies key trends in the historical background and demographics of Irish parliamentarians that influence how Irish parties and individual party leaders dynamically shape the political offerings available to voters based on the choices they make within multiple domains: ideological, institutional and organizational. By focusing on the strategic choices of party leaders in shaping the political arena, the results from this survey place in high relief the specific ways in which major parties and party leaders preserve their electoral advantage in multiple ways despite dramatic social changes.