Members of the 25th Seanad
| 25th Seanad Éireann | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Jurisdiction | Ireland | ||
| Meeting place | Leinster House | ||
| 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 | ||
This is a list of the members of the 25th Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland. These Senators were elected in April 2016 when postal voting closed. The Taoiseach's nominees were selected in May 2016. The Seanad election takes place after the 2016 general election for the 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 (Trinity College).
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 24the 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 seantors 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 is a minority government of Fine Gael and several independent TDs, supported by Fianna Fáil. However, Fine Gael do not hold a majority in the Seanad: even if all 19 Fine Gael Senators vote in favour of a motion, and all 14 Fianna Fáil Senators abstain, four more votes from independent or opposition Senators are required to pass a motion. There have thus been several very close votes. This is unusual, as the Taoiseach-nominated Senators usually give the Government an easy majority.[8][9][10]
Composition of the 25th Seanad
| Administrative Panel[5] | Agricultural Panel[11] | Cultural and Educational Panel[12] | Industrial and Commercial Panel[13] | Labour Panel[14] | National University of Ireland[15] | University of Dublin | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fianna Fáil | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | ||
| Fine Gael | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 19 | ||
| Sinn Féin | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| Labour Party | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| Green Party | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Independent | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 14 | ||
| Total | 7 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 60 | ||
Two technical groupings are in place in the 25th Seanad - The Civil Engagement group of 5 independent and Green Party senator Grace O'Sullivan, and the Independent Senators group, which contains all other independents bar Senator David Norris.
List of senators
- Note: The entries for Senators who were elected or appointed to fill vacancies are shown in italics
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.
- 1 2 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.
- 1 2 "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.
- ↑ "First meeting of the 25th Seanad".
- ↑ "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.