The 21st Seanad was in office from 1997 to 2002. 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 1997 general election to the

28th Dáil The 28th Dáil was elected at the 1997 Irish general election, 1997 general election on 6 June 1997 and met on 26 June 1997. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Republic of Ireland, Ire ...

. The senators served until the close of poll for the 22nd Seanad at the end of July 2002.

Cathaoirleach

On 17 September 1997, Brian Mullooly ( 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 Donie Cassidy (FF) and seconded by

Michael Finneran Michael Finneran (born 10 September 1947) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister of State for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government from 2008 to 2011. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2002 to 2011 and ...

(FF). He was elected without a division. On 18 September 1997, Liam T. Cosgrave ( FG) was proposed as Leas-Chathaoirleach by Maurice Manning (FG) and seconded by Paddy Burke (FG). He was elected without a division.

Composition of the 21st Seanad

There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad. 43 Senators 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 are

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 21st Seanad first met on 17 September 1997.

Cathaoirleach

Composition of the 21st Seanad

List of senators

Changes

References

External links