There are 60 members of the 26th

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; " Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its ...

, the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): **Dáil Éireann ...

(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 The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the offi ...

Micheál Martin Micheál Martin (; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence since December 2022. He served as Taoiseach from 2020 to 2022 and has been Leader of ...

, on 27 June 2020. The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. 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. 33 members (55%) of the 26th Seanad were unsuccessful candidates at the

2020 general election The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

, 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 Eileen Roche, née Flynn (1955 – 9 September 2008) was a schoolteacher in County Wexford, Ireland, who was dismissed in 1982 for cohabiting with a married man. 985IEHC 1, sec.10 In 1985, the High Court ruled this did not constitute unfair di ...

is the first Irish Traveller to be a member of the Seanad. Senator Mark Daly was elected as Cathaoirleach at the opening of the term, and Senator

Jerry Buttimer Jerry Buttimer (born 18 March 1967) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann since December 2022. He has served as a Senator for the Labour Panel since 2016, and previously from 2007 to 2011. He served ...

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. 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

and

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Ta ...

on 17 December, for the second half of the current Dail/Seanad term.

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 The National University of Ireland (NUI) ( ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann) is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universit ...

(

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

University of Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

and

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It w ...

) and three seats are elected by graduates of

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

(as

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

is the sole constituent college, this is often referred to as the Trinity College constituency). Article 18.8 of the Constitution requires that an election for

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.

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 *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

Government parties denoted with bullets ()

List of senators

Changes

References

External links

How the Seanad is Elected
–

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage ( ga, An Roinn Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitiúil agus Oidhreachta) is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage who is ...

{{Lists of members of Seanad Éireann 26