Almost. A TD (Teachta Dála) is a member of Dáil Éireann, the way an MP is a member of the House of Commons. The Dáil has 174 TDs, and its chair, the Ceann Comhairle, plays the role of the Speaker.

The Irish prime minister is called the Taoiseach and the deputy is the Tánaiste. Irish news reports use the Irish words without translating them.

Much of the rhythm will feel familiar: Leaders’ Questions works like a livelier PMQs, there are party whips, Bills go through stages, and committees scrutinise departments. The chamber is smaller and the TDs sit in a semicircle rather than facing benches.

Ireland uses proportional representation with the single transferable vote. Each of the 43 constituencies elects three, four or five TDs, and voters rank candidates in order of preference. A party with around a quarter of the votes wins around a quarter of the seats.

That is why coalition governments are normal in Ireland, unlike in Westminster where one party usually has a majority. It also helps independents, who make up a large group in the Dáil.

There is no safe-seat culture of the Westminster kind either. Because each constituency elects several TDs, candidates from the same party compete against each other for preferences, and a sitting TD can lose their seat to a running mate.

One rule explains most of Irish politics: the Government exists only while it has the support of a majority in the Dáil. Voters elect TDs; TDs choose the Taoiseach; the Taoiseach picks Ministers who run the departments. If the Dáil withdraws its confidence, the Government falls.

The President sits outside that chain. The office is directly elected and politically neutral, which is why a popular President can be from a different tradition to the Government of the day.

Ireland is a republic. The President, elected by voters for seven years, is head of State but does not run the country. The Seanad, the upper house, has 60 members, mostly elected by panels and graduates of certain universities and 11 nominated by the Taoiseach. It can delay Bills for a limited time.

There is no unwritten constitution. Bunreacht na hÉireann, adopted in 1937, can be changed only by a referendum, and the Supreme Court can strike down laws that conflict with it, something the UK Supreme Court cannot do to Acts of Parliament.

Referendums are therefore routine in Ireland rather than rare events. Voters have decided questions from EU treaties to marriage equality and the Eighth Amendment on abortion.

The familiar vocabulary hides a few real differences.

Yes. British citizens living in the Republic can vote in Dáil elections, as well as local elections, under long-standing reciprocal arrangements. After Brexit they can no longer vote in European Parliament elections. Irish citizens in Britain have the same rights in UK elections.

Irish and British citizens can also live and work in each other’s country under the Common Travel Area.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, with its own Assembly and Executive led by a First Minister and deputy First Minister. The Irish Government is separate, but the two work together on cross-border matters.

Some parties organise on both sides of the border, most visibly Sinn Féin, which leads the opposition in the Dáil and holds the First Minister post in Northern Ireland. Institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement, such as the North South Ministerial Council, bring Ministers from both jurisdictions together.

Irish politics uses Irish-language titles even in English-language news. Nobody translates them, so it helps to know the handful that come up every day.

Everything the Oireachtas does is published: every vote, every speech and every answer to a parliamentary question. The hard part is finding what matters in hundreds of pages of transcripts.