Dáil		The lower house of the ROI parliament

	Seanad		The upper house of the ROI parliament

	Leinster House	The building where the Dáil and Seanad sit

	TD		Teachta Dála (Dáil Deputy); an MP in the ROI

	Taoiseach	The prime minister of the ROI

	Tánaiste	The deputy PM of the ROI 

	Uachtarán	The Irish word for President

	Stormont	The old parliament building in NI, often refers to the
			institution itself

	MEP		Member of the European parliament, which sits in
			Strasbourg

	Secretary	(in Britain) government minister of cabinet rank;
	 of State	in Irish context, usually the one responsible for NI

	Garda		Short for Garda Siochána (guardian of the peace),
			ROI police

	RUC		Royal Ulster Constabulary, NI police

	IDA		Industrial Development Authority - ROI agency which
			tries to attract foreign investment

	IDB		Industrial Development Board - NI equivalent of IDA

	FEC		Fair Employment Commission - judges cases of religious
			discrimination in NI

	Westminster	Refers to British parliament and/or government

	Gerrymander	the manipulation of constituency boundaries
			to affect the outcome of an election or
			referendum (most effective under the first-past-
			the-post electoral system) [ named after Elbridge
			Gerry (1744-1814) U.S. politician and (at the
			time) Governor of Massachusetts who in 1812
			devised a strangely shaped senate district that
			was caricatured into a salamander ]