25th Seanad
| 25th Seanad Éireann | |||||||||||
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| Overview | |||||||||||
| Legislative body | Seanad Éireann | ||||||||||
| Jurisdiction | Ireland | ||||||||||
| Meeting place | Leinster House | ||||||||||
| Term | 8 June 2016 – 27 March 2020 | ||||||||||
| Members | 60 | ||||||||||
| Cathaoirleach | Denis O'Donovan | ||||||||||
| Leas-Chathaoirleach | Paul Coghlan | ||||||||||
| Leader of the Seanad | Jerry Buttimer | ||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Seanad | Catherine Noone | ||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Catherine Ardagh | ||||||||||
| Sessions | |||||||||||
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This is a list of the members of the 25th Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland. 49 Senators were elected in April 2016 when postal voting closed. The Taoiseach nominated an additional eleven members to the Seanad in May 2016. The Seanad election took place after the 2016 general election to Dáil Éireann.
Electoral system
There are 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 Senators are elected by the Vocational panels, 6 elected by the two University constituencies, and 11 are nominated by the Taoiseach. Three seats are elected by graduates of the National University of Ireland and three seats are elected by graduates and scholars of the University of Dublin.
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 9 February, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Alan Kelly signed the orders for the Seanad Election.
Nominations for the 43 Vocational panel seats closed at noon on 21 March 2016 and the full list of panel nominees was published in Iris Oifigiúil on 1 April 2016.[1] Polls for these two university constituencies closed at 11.00 a.m. on Tuesday 26 April 2016.
Forty-three Vocational panel seats in the Seanad are filled by an electorate of public representatives, comprising the incoming 32nd Dáil, the outgoing 24th Seanad, and members of city and county councils, each of whom has one vote in each of the five panels. The total electorate was 1,155.[2][3] Polling closed at 11 a.m. on Monday 25 April 2016, with the count beginning immediately afterwards. A total of 1,124 of the electorate voted.[3] Each panel is subdivided into an Oireachtas ("inside") subpanel and Nominating Bodies ("outside") subpanel, and a portion of seats must be filled from each subpanel; John Dolan was elected despite having fewer votes than Tom Sheahan and Thomas Welby when they were eliminated, because they were on the inside panel and all remaining seats were reserved for the outside panel.[4][5]
Taoiseach Enda Kenny nominated 11 senators on 27 May 2016.[6]
The 25th Seanad first met at Leinster House on 8 June 2016 when Denis O'Donovan was elected as the new Cathaoirleach of the Seanad.[7]
The Government of the 32nd Dáil was a minority government of Fine Gael and several independent TDs, supported by Fianna Fáil. Similarly, Fine Gael did not hold a majority in the Seanad: and even if all 20 Fine Gael Senators voted in favour of a motion, and all 14 Fianna Fáil Senators abstained, four more votes from independent or opposition Senators were required to pass a motion. There were several very close votes and defeats.[8] This was unusual, as the Senators nominated by the Taoiseach usually give the Government a majority.[9][10][11]
Composition of the 25th Seanad
Government party denoted by "●". Party giving confidence and supply denoted by "C".
Technical groups
The minimum parliamentary group size is five Senators, a threshold met by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, and the following three technical groups.[17] Apart from the Cathaoirleach, independent Marie-Louise O'Donnell was the only senator not a member of any group.[18]
- Independent group (9)
All were independents, although not all independent senators were members of the group.
- Civil Engagement group (5)
| Party | Name | Constituency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan=5 style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color" | | Independent (5) | Frances Black | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
| John Dolan | Administrative Panel | ||
| Alice Mary Higgins | National University of Ireland | ||
| Colette Kelleher | Nominated by the Taoiseach | ||
| Lynn Ruane | University of Dublin | ||
All members of the Civil Engagement group were first-time Oireachtas members and independents. This group included Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) until her election to the European Parliament in May 2019.
- Technical group (5)
| Party | Name | Constituency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan=4 style="background-color:Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" | | Labour Party (4) | Ivana Bacik | University of Dublin |
| Kevin Humphreys | Administrative Panel | ||
| Ged Nash | Labour Panel | ||
| Aodhán Ó Ríordáin | Industrial and Commercial Panel | ||
| style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color" | | Independent (1) | David Norris | University of Dublin |
All were in Labour except for independent Norris. Labour formed a party group until the retirement of Denis Landy left it below the five-senator threshold. It first formed a technical group with Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, who had resigned from Sinn Féin.[19] When Ó Clochartaigh resigned from the Seanad, Labour recruited Norris,[20] who had left the Independent group shortly after the 2016 election.[21]
List of senators
- Note: The entries for Senators who were elected or appointed to fill vacancies are shown in italics
Changes
See also
References
- ^ "Panels of candidates prepared by the Seanad Returning Officer pursuant to Section 43 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, as amended by the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1954" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil (27B). 1 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
- ^ "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Acts 1947 and 1954: Electoral roll" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil (27A). 1 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ a b O'Halloran, Marie (26 April 2016). "Sinn Féin candidates top Seanad poll on Agriculture panel". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
the small electorate of 1,155. A total of 1,124 of the electorate voted ... Those entitled to vote on the vocational panels are the 158 new TDs, 53 of the 60 outgoing Senators (as seven were elected to the Dáil in the recent election) and 941 city and county councillors.
- ^ O'Halloran, Marie (28 April 2016). "Fine Gael transfers help Labour win four Seanad seats". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ a b "Administrative Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ "Taoiseach's nominees to Seanad Éireann". 27 May 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
- ^ "Jury is out on delivery of a new and improved Seanad". independent.
- ^ O'Regan, Michael. "Government Seanad defeat as FF abstain in Higgins trade motion". The Irish Times.
- ^ "Abortion forum scrapes through Seanad".
- ^ "Lively new Seanad not part of government deal".
- ^ "Seanad can hold balance of power in a minority Government, claims Norris - Independent.ie".
- ^ "Agricultural Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ "Cultural and Educational Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ "Industrial and Commercial Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ "Labour Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ "National University of Ireland Elections Page". NUI. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
- ^ "Seanad Éireann - Standing Orders relative to Public Business" (PDF). Houses of the Oireachtas. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ O'Donnell, Marie Louise (21 March 2018). "Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2016: Committee Stage". Seanad debates. kildarestreet.com. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
- ^ O'Halloran, Marie (13 December 2017). "Labour Senators and Trevor Ó Clochartaigh form technical group". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
- ^ Bacik, Ivana (7 March 2018). "Order of Business". Seanad debates. KildareStreet.com. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
Those of us in the Seanad Technical Group are really delighted that Senator David Norris will be joining us.
- ^ Norris, David (29 June 2016). "Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage". Seanad debates. KildareStreet.com. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
I also thank the Independent group of Senators, which I left with some delight yesterday
- ^ a b "Tipperary senator Denis Landy retires from Seanad on health grounds". Tipperary Star. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- ^ "Fianna Fáil Senator resigns after ethics breach". independent.
- ^ a b c d "Unionist farmer takes one of two Seanad seats". RTÉ News. 27 April 2018.