The debates of the lower chamber of the Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann, are available online. The record covers the period from the convocation of the first Dáil on 21 January 1919 to the present day.

Of interest to semi-presidential researchers might be the debates that surrounded the introduction of the current constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, in 1937. The full proceedings of the debates are available. The name of the Bill where the debate can be found is: Bunreacht na hEireann (Dréacht)—Dara Céim.

Some of the interesting days are 11 May when the then prime minister, Eamonn de Valera, introduced the Bill to reform the constitution. On P. 39 he discusses the election and powers of the president. Given de Valera had considerable influence over the writing of the constitution, his interpretation is important.

On 11 May (PP. 131-133) and on 12 May (P. 230) there is an interesting discussion of the equivalent of the dangers of what we would now call cohabitation if the president were to be directly elected.

On the same day just a few pages later on (P. 233) there is a discussion of the possible perils of majority government and a directly elected president. The key point here is that the Opposition (Fine Gael) were worried that Eamonn de Valera would be elected president and would act like a dictator. There is no evidence that he ever considered being president, but the opposition were trying to raise the spectre of such a situation. On P. 303 one of the senior figures in Fine Gael makes the charge of dictatorship quite explicitly. On 13 May de Valera responds to this charge (P. 421 onwards).

The committee stage of the Bill was discussed by the whole house, staring on 25 May. Amendments concerning the president were debated on this day in the second session (P. 1004 onwards).

Note that the Fianna Fáil government had a bare majority in the Dáil, but it had a clear majority on all the Constitution votes. So, any Fine Gael amendments were likely to fail.

The debate ended on 14 June. The Dáil was dissolved on that day. The the general election was held on 1 July 1937. A referendum on the Constitution was held on the same day and was approved by 56.5%. The Fianna Fáil government was returned in the election.

If you read the debates, then, for information, note that de Valera then held the position of President of the Executive Council. This was the equivalent of the post of prime minister. This means, though, that in the Dáil debates he is referred to as President. This can cause some confusion especially when the deputies are debating the powers of the President (meaning the head of state) in the new constitution. After 1937, the Irish head of government has been called Taoiseach.