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25th Seanad
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Overview
Legislative body	Seanad Éireann
Jurisdiction	Ireland
Meeting place	Leinster House
Term	8 June 2016 – 27 March 2020
Government	30th Government of Ireland (2016–2017) 31st Government of Ireland (2017–2020)
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
1st 8 June 2016 – 21 July 2016 2nd 28 September 2016 – 20 July 2017 3rd 26 September 2017 – 17 July 2018 4th 19 September 2018 – 12 July 2019 5th 24 September 2019 – 27 March 2020

The 25th Seanad was in office from 2016 to 2020. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 2016 general election to the 32nd Dáil on 26 February. There are 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 were elected on five vocational panels by serving politicians, for which polling closed on 25 April; 6 were elected in two university constituencies, for which polling closed on 26 April; and 11 were nominated by the Taoiseach (Enda Kenny) on 27 May 2016. It remained in office until the close of poll for the 26th Seanad in March 2020. Padraig Mac Lochlainn was the first Irish Traveller to be a member of Seanad 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 Dublin University.

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. Polls for these two university constituencies closed at 11.00 a.m. on Tuesday 26 April 2016.

Forty-three vocational panel seats 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. 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. 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.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny nominated 11 senators on 27 May 2016.

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.

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. This was unusual, as the Senators nominated by the Taoiseach usually give the Government a majority.

Composition of the 25th Seanad

Government party denoted with bullet (●).
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. Apart from the Cathaoirleach, independent Marie-Louise O'Donnell was the only senator not a member of any group.

Independent group (9)

All were independents, although not all independent senators were members of the group.

Civil Engagement group (5)

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)

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. When Ó Clochartaigh resigned from the Seanad, Labour recruited Norris, who had left the Independent group shortly after the 2016 election.

List of senators

• Note: The entries for Senators who were elected or appointed to fill vacancies are shown in italics

Changes

References

1. "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. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
2. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Acts 1947 and 1954: Electoral roll" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil (27A). 1 April 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
3. ^ O'Halloran, Marie (26 April 2016). "Sinn Féin candidates top Seanad poll on Agriculture panel". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. 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.
4. O'Halloran, Marie (28 April 2016). "Fine Gael transfers help Labour win four Seanad seats". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 29 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
5. ^ "Administrative Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
6. "Taoiseach's nominees to Seanad Éireann". 27 May 2016. Archived from the original on 28 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
7. "Jury is out on delivery of a new and improved Seanad". independent. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
8. O'Regan, Michael. "Government Seanad defeat as FF abstain in Higgins trade motion". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
9. Coyne, Ellen. "Abortion forum scrapes through Seanad". Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
10. "Lively new Seanad not part of government deal". Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
11. "Seanad can hold balance of power in a minority Government, claims Norris - Independent.ie". Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
12. "National University of Ireland Elections Page". NUI. Archived from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
13. "Agricultural Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
14. "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.
15. "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.
16. "Labour Panel Full Results". seanadcount.ie. Oireachtas. April 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
17. "Seanad Éireann - Standing Orders relative to Public Business" (PDF). Houses of the Oireachtas. 20 June 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
18. O'Donnell, Marie Louise (21 March 2018). "Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2016: Committee Stage". Seanad debates. kildarestreet.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
19. O'Halloran, Marie (13 December 2017). "Labour Senators and Trevor Ó Clochartaigh form technical group". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
20. Bacik, Ivana (7 March 2018). "Order of Business". Seanad debates. KildareStreet.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2018. Those of us in the Seanad Technical Group are really delighted that Senator David Norris will be joining us.
21. Norris, David (29 June 2016). "Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage". Seanad debates. KildareStreet.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018. I also thank the Independent group of Senators, which I left with some delight yesterday
22. ^ "Tipperary senator Denis Landy retires from Seanad on health grounds". Tipperary Star. 28 November 2017. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
23. "Fianna Fáil Senator resigns after ethics breach". independent. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
24. ^ "Unionist farmer takes one of two Seanad seats". RTÉ News. 27 April 2018. Archived from the original on 20 January 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2018.

External links

• How the Seanad is Elected – Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

• Members of the 25th Seanad
• Lists of members of Seanad Éireann by term