I suspect they have some married Deacons, some parish councils just as we do here.  I suspect in both places there is also the situation where the parish councils are summarily dismissed by a new priest if the priest wants and the bishops does nothing about it because to some bishops what the laity want doesn't matter.  

We don't uniformly have good bishops; neither does Australia.  We don't uniformly have good priests; neither does Australia.  Both places had priests who kept silent about what they knew of child sex abuse and both places had all their bishops fight vociferously to keep hidden anything they knew about it.

Both Australia and Ireland are dealing with a big issue that we have managed to duck.  That issue is the mutual responsibility that societies (through their governments) and faith leaders have to each other.  We are getting to that issue - when we think of our commitment to equality for all and issues like gay marriage.  No one is ahead of the other.