| 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 |
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| Members | 60 | ||||||||||
| Cathaoirleach | Denis O'Donovan (FF) | ||||||||||
| Leas-Chathaoirleach | Paul Coghlan (FG) | ||||||||||
| Leader of the Seanad | Jerry Buttimer (FG) | ||||||||||
| Deputy leader of the Seanad | Catherine Noone (FG) | ||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Catherine Ardagh (FF) | ||||||||||
| Sessions | |||||||||||
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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.
On 8 June 2016, when the 25th Seanad first met at Leinster House, Rose Conway-Walsh (SF) was proposed by Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (SF) and seconded by Niall Ó Donnghaile (SF) for the position of Cathaoirleach. Denis O'Donovan (FF) was proposed by Catherine Ardagh (FF) and seconded by Mark Daly (FF). Conway-Walsh was rejected by a vote of 8 to 43. O'Donovan was elected by a vote of 44 to 6.[1][2]
On 15 June 2016, Máire Devine (SF) was proposed by Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF) and seconded by Rose Conway-Walsh (SF) for the position of Leas-Chathaoirleach. Denis Landy (Lab) was proposed by Ivana Bacik (Lab) and seconded by Kevin Humphreys (Lab). Paul Coghlan (FG) was proposed by Jerry Buttimer (FG) and seconded by Paddy Burke. elected as Leas-Chathaoirleach. Gerard Craughwell (Ind) was proposed by Michael McDowell (Ind) and seconded by Victor Boyhan (Ind). Devine was rejected by a vote of 7 to 39. Landy was rejected by a vote of 5 to 27. Coghlan was elected as Leas-Chathaoirleach by a vote of 36 to 11.[3]
There are 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 Senators were elected by the vocational panels, 6 were elected by the two university constituencies, and 11 were 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.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6][7] 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.[7] 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.[8][9]
Taoiseach Enda Kenny nominated 11 senators on 27 May 2016.[10]
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.[11] This was unusual, as the Senators nominated by the Taoiseach usually give the government a majority.[12][13][14]
Origin Party
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Vocational panels | NUI[15] | DU | Nominated | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admin[9] | Agri[16] | Cult & Educ[17] | Ind & Comm[18] | Labour[19] | |||||||
| ● | Fine Gael | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 19 | |
| C | Fianna Fáil | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |
| 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 | ||
Government party denoted with bullet (●).
Party giving confidence and supply denoted by C.
The minimum parliamentary group size is five Senators, a threshold met by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, and the following three technical groups.[20] Apart from the Cathaoirleach, independent Marie-Louise O'Donnell was the only senator not a member of any group.[21]
All were independents, although not all independent senators were members of the group.
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.
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.[22] When Ó Clochartaigh resigned from the Seanad, Labour recruited Norris,[23] who had left the Independent group shortly after the 2016 election.[24]
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.
I also thank the Independent group of Senators, which I left with some delight yesterday
