The 19th Seanad was in office from 1989 to 1993. An election to

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

, the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

(Irish parliament), followed the 1989 general election to the

26th Dáil The 26th Dáil was elected at the 1989 Irish general election, 1989 general election on 15 June 1989 and met on 29 June 1989. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Republic of Ireland, Ir ...

. The senators served until the close of poll for the

20th Seanad The 20th Seanad was in office from 1993 to 1997. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1992 general election to the 27th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 21st S ...

in 1993.

Cathaoirleach

On 1 November 1989, Seán Doherty ( FF) was proposed as

Cathaoirleach Cathaoirleach (; Irish language, Irish for Chair (officer), chairperson; plural: ) is the title of the chair (or speaker (politics), presiding officer) of Seanad Éireann, the sixty-member upper house of the Oireachtas, the legislature of Repub ...

by Mick Lanigan (FF) and seconded by Patrick McGowan (FF).

Avril Doyle Avril Doyle (; born 18 April 1949) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Minister of State from 1986 to 1987 and from 1995 to 1997. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2004 and 2004 to 2009, a ...

( FG) was proposed by

Maurice Manning Maurice Manning (born 14 June 1943) is an Irish academic and former Fine Gael politician. Manning was a member of the Oireachtas for 21 years, serving in both the Dáil and the Seanad. On 12 March 2009 he was elected Chancellor of the Natio ...

(FG) and seconded by Charles McDonald (FG). John A. Murphy (

Ind Ind or IND may refer to: General * Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party * Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...

) was nominated by David Norris (Ind) and seconded by Brendan Ryan (Ind). Doherty was elected by a vote of 32 to 25. On 8 November 1989, Liam Naughten ( FG) was proposed as Leas-Chathaoirleach by

Myles Staunton Myles Staunton (24 September 1935 – 22 June 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and businessman from Westport, County Mayo. He first stood for election at the 1969 general election for the Mayo West constituency but was unsuccessful. H ...

(FG) and seconded by

Pól Ó Foighil Pól Ó Foighil (1 June 1928 – 21 March 2005) was an Irish politician and activist for Irish-speaking, coastal and island communities. A teacher turned co-operative manager, he was an active member of the Fine Gael party, and as a long-servi ...

(FG). Jack Harte ( Lab) was proposed by Pat Upton (Lab) and seconded by Joe Costello (Lab). Naughten was elected by a vote of 15 to 10. On 22 January 1992, Doherty resigned as Cathaoirleach after comments he made in relation to the phone tapping scandal, which would lead to the resignation of

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

on 11 February. On 23 January, Seán Fallon (FF) was proposed by G. V. Wright (FF) and seconded by Tras Honan (FF). He was elected without a division. Fallon won a contest against Des Hanafin, Tras Honan and Willie Farrell to be the Fianna Fáil nominee for the post.

Composition of the 19th Seanad

There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 were elected on five

vocational panel A vocational panel () is any of five lists of candidates from which are elected a total of 43 of the 60 senators in Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of Ireland. Each panel corresponds to a grouping of "interests and ...

s, 6 were elected from two

university constituencies A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters ar ...

and 11 were

nominated by the Taoiseach A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...

. The following table shows the composition by party when the 19th Seanad first met on 1 November 1989.

Cathaoirleach

Composition of the 19th Seanad

List of senators

Changes

Sources

References