Parliamentary volatility in Dáil Éireann – unfreezing the Irish party system?

The article provides an analysis of the phenomenon of parliamentary volatility during three consecutive terms of Dáil Éireann (2007–2011, 2011–2016 and 2016–2020). The study encompasses all personnel changes in the Irish parliament, including party-switching and replacements resulting from the expiration of mandates before the completion of the parliamentary term. To provide a broadercontext of the analysis, the article includes an overview of the main features of the Irish party system.The study demonstrates that from the perspective of classical systemic analysis, both types of fluctuations did not lead to significant changes in the party system or disrupt parliamentary arithmetic. More than half of the party-switching cases were a consequence of breaking party discipline. However, such formal provisions were not the primary cause of the second type of fluctuation – the expiration of mandates before the completion of the term.