Database of Parliamentary Speeches in Ireland, 1919-2013

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive database of Irish parliamentary speeches from 1919 to 2013, including detailed background information on parliament members, enabling extensive political analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first complete, publicly accessible database of Irish parliamentary debates with integrated background data on TDs and ministers, created through systematic data collection and processing.

Findings

Contains nearly 4.5 million speeches from 1,178 TDs.

Includes detailed background info on TDs and cabinet positions.

Facilitates research in political science and historical analysis.

Abstract

We present a database of parliamentary debates that contains the complete record of parliamentary speeches from D\'ail \'Eireann, the lower house and principal chamber of the Irish parliament, from 1919 to 2013. In addition, the database contains background information on all TDs (Teachta D\'ala, members of parliament), such as their party affiliations, constituencies and office positions. The current version of the database includes close to 4.5 million speeches from 1,178 TDs. The speeches were downloaded from the official parliament website and further processed and parsed with a Python script. Background information on TDs was collected from the member database of the parliament website. Data on cabinet positions (ministers and junior ministers) was collected from the official website of the government. A record linkage algorithm and human coders were used to match TDs and ministers.