Surgery (politics)


A political surgery, constituency surgery, constituency clinic, mobile office or sometimes advice surgery, in British and Irish politics, is a series of one-to-one meetings that a Member of Parliament, Teachta Dála or other political officeholder may have with their constituents. At a surgery, constituents may raise issues of concern in the same manner that a person may directly consult a General Practitioner in their surgery. The issues may relate to local issues or to national policy matters. Often the constituent's issue will be followed up by a caseworker or assistant. Surgery meetings are usually confidential and differ from town hall meetings, which are open to many people at the same time.
It is up to each MP to decide whether they have any surgeries at all and if so, how many and in what locations. MPs often use local party offices, church halls or rooms in public houses as the venues, with a number of surgeries possibly being held at different locations around a constituency. Surgeries are traditionally held on Fridays or at weekends when MPs have returned from sittings of parliament in Westminster. Some MPs' surgeries are "appointment only", some "drop-in", and others a mix. An MP with a large constituency will sometimes hold surgeries in a wide range of locations during the summer recess.
In Republic of Ireland, clinics/surgeries are an even more important source of publicity and contact for Teachtaí Dála and other representatives, as under the PR-STV system there are very few truly safe seats. One paper published by Queen's University Belfast's Institute of Irish Studies states
The term mobile office has been used in Australian politics.