A Random Process? Committee Assignments in Dáil Éireann.

Committees are the backbone of any modern legislature. Membership of committees is in most parliaments a gift within the reach of the party groups. Yet, both theoretically and empirically, little is known about committee allocation in parliaments. Using theories from the literature of the US Congress, a framework for analysis of the committee assignments in Dáil Éireann is presented. Empirically, the contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it analyzes what factors influence the allocation of Teachta Dálas (TDs) to Dáil committees. Second, it analyzes to what extent the participation of TDs in committee changes over time. The former analysis corroborates results found in other parliaments; few factors seem to have an influence. The latter analysis confirms that the participation of TDs changes over time and seems to be tied in with the changing scope and influence of the committee system. The analyzes rely on a data set consisting of all committee assignments in the Dáil since November 1982 until June 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]