Members of the 26th Seanad
There are 60 members of the 26th Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament). Of these, 49 were elected on a restricted franchise, polls closing on 30–31 March 2020; subsequently the remaining 11 members were nominated by the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, on 27 June 2020.
| 26th Seanad Éireann | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Overview | |||||||||
| Legislative body | Seanad Éireann | ||||||||
| Jurisdiction | Ireland | ||||||||
| Meeting place | Leinster House | ||||||||
| Election | 30–31 March 2020 | ||||||||
| Members | 60 | ||||||||
| Cathaoirleach | Jerry Buttimer (FG) | ||||||||
| Leas-Chathaoirleach | Mark Daly (FF) | ||||||||
| Leader of the Seanad | Lisa Chambers (FF) | ||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Seanad | Regina Doherty (FG) | ||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Niall Ó Donnghaile (SF) | ||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Rebecca Moynihan (Lab) | ||||||||
| Sessions | |||||||||
| |||||||||
The government has a clear majority (40 to 20) in the Seanad.
Of the 60 members, twenty-four (40%) are women, and thirty (50%) are first-time Senators. Five Senators (8%) are members of the LGBT+ community.[1]
33 members (55%) of the 26th Seanad were unsuccessful candidates at the 2020 general election, 10 of those (17%) being outgoing TDs who failed to get re-elected. In total 41 members (68%) of the 26th Seanad had contested general elections in the past, while 15 (25%) were former TDs.
Eileen Flynn is the first Irish Traveller to be a member of the Seanad.[2]
Senator Mark Daly was elected as Cathaoirleach at the opening of the term, and Senator Jerry Buttimer as Leas Cathaoirleach. As part of a power sharing deal between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, Jerry Buttimer replaced Daly as Cathaoirleach on 16 December 2022, with Daly taking up the Leas Cathaoirleach role. The political leadership of the Seanad also swapped on 16 December 2022, with outgoing Leader of the Seanad, Regina Doherty becoming Deputy Leader, and outgoing Deputy Leader Lisa Chambers becoming Leader. Outgoing Government Chief Whip of the Seanad, Senator Sean Kyne of Fine Gael also swapped positions with Seanad Government Deputy Chief Whip Senator Robbie Gallagher, who took over as Seanad Chief Whip.[3]
The leadership of the Green Party group in the Seanad also changed with Senator Pauline O'Reilly stepping down as Group leader to be replaced by Senator Róisín Garvey.
This swap in Seanad leadership coincided with the swap in roles of Taoiseach and Tánaiste on 17 December, for the second half of the current Dail/Seanad term.[4][5]
Electoral system
There are 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 Senators are elected by the Vocational panels, six elected by the two University constituencies, and eleven are nominated by the Taoiseach. Three seats are elected by graduates of the four colleges of the National University of Ireland (University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Galway and Maynooth University) and three seats are elected by graduates of University of Dublin (as Trinity College Dublin is the sole constituent college, this is often referred to as the Trinity College constituency).[6]
Article 18.8 of the Constitution requires that an election for Seanad Éireann must take place not later than 90 days after a dissolution of the Dáil. On 21 January, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy signed the orders for the Seanad election.[7]
Timetable
- 24 February 2020: deadline for proposals for nominations to the vocational panels by nominating bodies (civic society groups)
- 2 March 2020: deadline for proposals for nominations to the vocational panels by Members of the Oireachtas (President of Ireland, TDs and Senators)
- 9 March 2020: Seanad Returning Officer completes the panels of candidates
- 16 March 2020: postal balloting begins
- 30 March 2020, 11 a.m.: polling closes for the five special panels, counting of votes commences[8][9]
- 31 March 2020, 11 a.m.: polling closes in the two university constituencies
- 27 June 2020: Taoiseach's nominees announced
Composition of the 26th Seanad
Origin Party |
Vocational panels | NUI | DU | Nominated | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admin | Agri | Cult & Educ | Ind & Comm | Labour | |||||||
| ● | Fianna Fáil | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20 | |
| ● | Fine Gael | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16 | |
| Sinn Féin | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| Labour Party | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| ● | Green Party | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| Human Dignity Alliance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Independent | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| Total | 7 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 60 | ||
Government parties denoted with bullets (●)
List of senators
- Note: The entries for Senators who were elected or appointed to fill vacancies are shown in italics
Changes
| Date | Panel | Loss | Gain | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 September 2020 | Agricultural Panel | Fine Gael | Michael W. D'Arcy resigns from the Seanad[12] | |||
| 29 October 2020 | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Sinn Féin | Elisha McCallion resigns from the Seanad[13] | |||
| 21 April 2021 | Agricultural Panel | Fine Gael | Maria Byrne elected in a by-election[10] | |||
| 21 April 2021 | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fianna Fáil | Gerry Horkan elected in a by-election[10] | |||
| 9 July 2021 | Dublin University | Labour | Ivana Bacik elected to the Dáil at a by-election | |||
| 31 March 2022 | Dublin University | Independent | Tom Clonan elected in a by-election[11] | |||
References
- Oireachtas, Houses of the (16 December 2022). "Election of Cathaoirleach – Seanad Éireann (26th Seanad) – Friday, 16 Dec 2022 – Houses of the Oireachtas". www.oireachtas.ie. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- Holl, Kitty; Correspondent, Social Affairs. "Seanad nominees welcomed by National Women's Council". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- Oireachtas, Houses of the (16 December 2022). "Election of Cathaoirleach – Seanad Éireann (26th Seanad) – Friday, 16 Dec 2022 – Houses of the Oireachtas". www.oireachtas.ie. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- Clerk of the Seanad (16 December 2022). "Election of Cathaoirleach – Seanad Éireann (26th Seanad)". Oireachtas.ie. Houses of the Oireachtas.
- Lehane, Mícheál (16 December 2022). "Buttimer elected Cathaoirleach of Seanad" – via RTÉ.ie.
- "Seanad elections - everything you need to know". RTÉ. 1 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- "Seanad Éireann General Election". Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. 22 January 2020. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- O'Halloran, Marie. "New FG Senator expected to be appointed for few weeks before Seanad election". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- "Seanad general election 2020". Oireachtas.ie. Houses of the Oireachtas. 6 February 2020. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- "Byrne and Horkan elected to Seanad following by-election". RTÉ News. 21 April 2021. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- "Clonan wins Trinity College Seanad by-election". RTÉ News. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
- Taylor, Cliff (28 September 2020). "Former junior finance minister to head funds sector lobby group". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- Kearney, Vincent (29 October 2020). "Three Sinn Féin members resign over Covid grants". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.