Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann
26th Seanad
Type
Type	Upper houseof theOireachtas
History
Established	29 December 1937 (Modern form)
Preceded by	Irish Free State Seanad
New session started	29 June 2020
Leadership
Cathaoirleach	Jerry Buttimer,FG since 16 December 2022
Leas-Chathaoirleach	Mark Daly,FF since 16 December 2022
Leader of the Seanad	Lisa Chambers,FF since 16 December 2022
Deputy leader	Regina Doherty,FG since 16 December 2022
Opposition leader	Rebecca Moynihan,Lab since September 2020
Structure
Seats	60
Political groups	Government(42) Fianna Fáil(21) Fine Gael(16) Green(5) Opposition(17) Labour(4) Sinn Féin(3) Human Dignity Alliance(1) Independent(9) Vacant(1)
Committees	6 Administration Consolidation Bills Members' Interests of Seanad Éireann Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight (Seanad) Seanad Public Consultation Selection
Joint committees	20 Agriculture, Food and the Marine Autism Children, Disability, Equality, Integration, and Youth Disability Matters Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science Enterprise, Trade and Employment Environment and Climate Action European Union Affairs Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach Foreign Affairs and Defence Gender Equality Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement Irish Language, Gaeltacht and the Irish-speaking Community Health Housing, Local Government and Heritage Justice Public Petitions Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands Transport and Communications Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media
Length of term	No more than 5 years
Authority	Articles 18−19, Constitution of Ireland
Salary	€78,826 per yearplus expenses
Elections
Voting system	Indirect election
Last election	30−31 March 2020
Next election	By March 2025
Meeting place
Seanad Chamber Leinster House,Kildare Street,Dublin
Website
www.oireachtas.ie
Constitution
Constitution of Ireland
Rules
Seanad Éireann – Standing Orders Relative to Public Business 2020
Footnotes

Seanad Éireann(/ˈʃænədˈɛərən,ˈʃænəð/SHAN-əd(h)AIR-ən,Irish:[ˈʃan̪ˠəd̪ˠˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ];"Senateof Ireland ") is thesenateof theOireachtas(the Irish legislature), which also comprises thePresident of IrelandandDáil Éireann(defined as thehouse of representatives).

It is commonly called theSeanadorSenateand its members senators (seanadóiríinIrish,singular:seanadóir). Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by various methods. Its powers are much weaker than those of the Dáil and it can only delay laws with which it disagrees, rather than veto them outright. It can introduce new legislation. Since its establishment, it has been located inLeinster House.

Composition

Under Article 18 of theConstitution,Seanad Éireann consists of 60 senators, composed as follows:

• Elevennominated by theTaoiseach.
• Six elected inuniversity constituenciesby the graduates of certain Irish universities:
  • Three by graduates of theUniversity of Dublin.
  • Three by graduates of theNational University of Ireland.
• Forty-three elected from five special panels of nominees (known asvocational panels) by an electorate consisting ofTDs(members ofDáil Éireann), outgoing senators andmembers of city and county councils.Nomination is restrictive for the panel seats with only Oireachtas members and designated nominating bodies entitled to nominate. Each of the five panels consists, in theory, of individuals possessing special knowledge of, or experience in, one of five specific fields. In practice the nominees are party members, often, though not always, failed or aspiring Dáil candidates:
  • Seven seats on theAdministrative Panel:Public administration and social services (including the voluntary sector).
  • Eleven seats on theAgricultural Panel:Agriculture and the fisheries.
  • Five seats on theCultural and Educational Panel:Education, the arts, the Irish language and Irish culture and literature.
  • Nine seats on theIndustrial and Commercial Panel:Industry and commerce (including engineering and architecture).
  • Eleven seats on theLabour Panel:Labour (organised or otherwise).

The general election for the Seanad must occur not later than 90 days after the dissolution of Dáil Éireann. The election occurs under the system ofproportional representationby means of thesingle transferable vote(in the panel constituencies each vote counts as 1000, allowing fractions of votes to be more easily transferred). Membership is open to all Irish citizens over 21, but a senator cannot also be a member of Dáil Éireann. However, as stated above, nomination to vocational panel seats is restricted; nomination in the university constituencies requires signatures of 10 graduates.

In the case of vacancies in the vocational panels, the electorate in the by-election consists of Oireachtas members only.Vacancies to the university seats are filled by the full electorate in that constituency.

Members of the 26th Seanad (2020–)

Main article:26th Seanad

Party		Senators
	Fianna Fáil	21
	Fine Gael	16
	Green	5
	Labour	4
	Sinn Féin	3
	Human Dignity Alliance	1
	Independent	9
Vacant		1
Total		60

Powers

The powers of Seanad Éireann are modelled loosely on those of the BritishHouse of Lords.It is intended to play an advisory and revising role rather than to be an equal of the popularly elected Dáil. While notionally every Act of the Oireachtas must receive assent of both chambers, in practice the Seanad can only delay rather than veto decisions of the Dáil. The fact that 11 senators are appointed by the Taoiseach usually ensures that the Government, which must have the support of the Dáil, enjoys at least a plurality in the Seanad. The constitution imposes the following specific limitations on the powers of the Seanad:

• If abillapproved by Dáil Éireann has not received the assent of the Seanad within 90 days, then the Dáil may, within a further 180 days, resolve that the measure is "deemed" to have been approved by the Seanad. This has only occurred twice since 1937, once in 1959 when the Seanad rejected theThird Amendment to the Constitution Bill 1958(the amendment proposed by this bill was, in the event, rejected in the subsequent referendum) and again in 1964 when they rejected the Pawnbrokers Bill 1964. In both instances the Dáil passed the requisite motion deeming the legislation to have been passed.
• A money bill, such as the budget, may be deemed to have been approved by the Seanad after 21 days.
• In the case of an urgent bill, the time that must have expired before it can be deemed to have been approved by the Seanad may be abridged by theGovernment(cabinet) with the concurrence of thePresident(this does not apply to bills to amend the constitution).

The Constitution does, however, grant to the Seanad certain means by which it may defend its prerogatives against an overly zealous Dáil:

• The Seanad may, by a resolution, ask the president to appoint a Committee of Privileges to adjudicate as to whether or not a particular bill is a money bill. The president may, however, refuse this request. This procedure has not been initiated since the re-establishment of the Seanad under the current Constitution in 1937.
• If a majority of senators and at least one-third of the members of the Dáil present a petition to the President stating that a bill is of great "national importance" the president can decline to sign the bill until it has been 'referred to the people'. This means that the president can refuse to sign it until it has been approved either in anordinary referendumor by the Dáil after it has reassembled after a general election.

Activities

Seanad Éireann adopts its ownstanding ordersand appoints its president, known as theCathaoirleach( "Chair" ). TheTaoiseachappoints a senator to beLeader of the Houseand direct government business there. The Seanad establishes its ownstanding committeesandselect committee;senators also participate, along with TDs (members of the Dáil) injoint committeesof the Oireachtas. A maximum of two senators may be ministers in theGovernment.

Standing committees

• Committee on Administration
• Committee on Consolidation Bills
• Committee of Selection
• Committee on Procedure and Privileges
  • Sub-committee on Compellability
• Committee on Members' Interests of Seanad Éireann

Select committees

• Select committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture
• Select committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht
• Select committee onEuropean UnionAffairs
• Select committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Select committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
• Select committee on Health and Children
• Select committee on the Implementation of theGood Friday Agreement
• Select committee on Investigations, Oversight and Petitions
• Select committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education
• Select committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Historical origins

Precursors

The first parliamentary upper house in Ireland was theHouse of Lordsof theParliament of Ireland,beginning in 1297. Like its British counterpart, this house consisted of hereditary nobles and bishops. After the abolition of the Irish Parliament under theAct of Union of 1800no parliament existed in Ireland until the twentieth century.

In 1919 Irish nationalists established a legislature calledDáil Éireannbut this body wasunicameraland so had no upper house. In 1920 theParliament of Southern Irelandwas established by British law with an upper house called the Senate. TheSenate of Southern Irelandconsisted of a mixture of Irish peers and government appointees. The Senate convened in 1921 but was boycotted by Irish nationalists and so never became fully operational. It was formally abolished with the establishment of theIrish Free Statein 1922 but a number of its members were soon appointed to the new Free State senate.

Free State Seanad Éireann (1922–1936)

Main article:Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State)

The nameSeanad Éireannwas first used as the title of the upper house of the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State. The first Seanad consisted of a mixture of members appointed by thePresident of the Executive Counciland members indirectly elected by the Dáil, andW. T. Cosgraveagreed to use his appointments to grant extra representation to the state's Protestant minority. The procedures for election of senators were amended before the first Seanad election by theConstitution (Amendment No. 1) Act 1925.It was intended that eventually the entire membership of the Seanad would be directly elected by the public. However after only one election, in1925,where 19 Seanad members were elected in one district using STV, this system was abandoned in favour of a form of indirect election.

Initially casual vacancies in the Seanad were filled by vote of the remaining members. However this system was replaced under theConstitution (Amendment No. 11) Act 1929by filling of vacancies by vote of both Dáil and Seanad, the system that continues today for panel members. The Free State Seanad was abolished entirely in 1936 after it delayed some Government proposals for constitutional changes.

Constitution of Ireland (since 1937)

The modern Seanad Éireann was established by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937, and first sat on 25 January 1939. When this document was adopted it was decided to preserve the titles ofOireachtas,for the two houses of the legislature, in conjunction with the President,Dáil Éireannfor the lower house, andSeanad Éireannfor the upper house, the latter having been used during the Irish Free State. This new Seanad was considered to be the direct successor of the Free State Seanad and so the first Seanad convened under the new constitution was referred to as the "Second Seanad".

The new system ofvocational panelsused to nominate candidates for the Seanad was inspired by thecorporatistRoman Catholic social teaching of the 1930s, and in particular the 1931 papal encyclicalQuadragesimo anno.In this documentPope Pius XIargued that the Marxist concept of class conflict should be replaced with a vision of social order based on the co-operation and interdependence of society's various vocational groups.

Calls for reform

Since 1928, twelve separate official reports have been published on reform of the Seanad.In the 1980s, theProgressive Democratscalled for its abolition; however, in government, members of the party were nominated to the Seanad by the Taoiseach. The post-1937 body has been criticised on a number of grounds, including claims that it is weak and dominated by the Government of the day. There are also allegations ofpatronagein the selection of its members, with senators often being close allies of the Taoiseach or candidates who have failed to be elected to the Dáil. Many senators have subsequently been elected as TDs.

Irish universities have a long tradition of electing independent candidates. Some, like the pressure group Graduate Equality, argue that the franchise for electing university senators should be extended to the graduates of all third level institutions. Others believe that this does not go far enough and that at least some portion of the Seanad should be directly elected by all adult citizens. Calls have also been made for the Seanad to be used to represent Irish emigrants or the people ofNorthern Ireland.In 1999 theReform Movementcalled for some of the Taoiseach's nominations to be reserved for members of the Irish-British minority, and other minorities such as members of the Travelling Community and recently arrived immigrants.

Graduate franchise

TheSeventh Amendmentin 1979 altered the provisions of Article 18.4 to allow for a redistribution of the university seats to any other institutes of higher education in the state, although no change has taken place since then.

In 2019, Tomás Heneghan, a graduate ofUniversity of Limerick,challenged the limitation of voting rights to graduates ofNational University of Ireland,Trinity College Dublin,and toOireachtasand local authority members.The case was heard by a three-judge division of theHigh Courtin 2021.The challenge was rejected by the court later that year.On 31 March 2023, following a direct appeal on the point of university graduates voting, the seven-judgeSupreme Courtruled in Heneghan's favour and struck down the 1937 law limiting the right to vote to NUI and Trinity College graduates.However, the court suspended its ruling to 31 July 2023 to allow the state to determine how it would institute the necessary changes to the law. In a statement, through his legal representatives at theFree Legal Advice Centres(FLAC), Heneghan said he hoped the Oireachtas would act speedily to extend the vote to everyone, regardless of educational or socio-economic background. This would be in line with the 2018 report of the cross-party Seanad Reform Implementation Group, chaired by SenatorMichael McDowell.On 26 July 2023, the Supreme Court gave a second ruling, allowing the Oireachtas up to 31 May 2025 to legislate for the expansion of the electorate.

Referendum on abolition

Main article:Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2013

In October 2009,Fine GaelleaderEnda Kennystated his intention that a Fine Gael government would abolish the Seanad, and along with reducing the number of TDs by 20, it would "save an estimated €150m over the term of a Dáil."During the2011 election campaign,Labour,Sinn Féinand theSocialist Partyalso supported abolition of the Seanad,whileFianna Fáilsupported a referendum on the issue.The programme of theFine Gael–Labour coalition,which came to power at the election, sought to abolish the Seanad as part of a broader programme of constitutional reform,but lost a referendum on the matter in October 2013 by 51.7% to 48.3%.

Members from Northern Ireland

Taoisighhave often included people fromNorthern Irelandamong theireleven nominees,such asJohn Robb(served 1982–1989),Seamus Mallon(1982–1983) of theSDLP,Bríd Rodgers(1983–1987) also of the SDLP, peace campaignerGordon Wilson(1993–1997), businessmanEdward Haughey(1994–2002),Maurice Hayes(1997–2002), andEmer Currie(2020–present).

Sam McAughtrywas elected to theIndustrial and Commercial Panelin a by-election in February 1996.Niall Ó Donnghailewas elected in April 2016 as aSinn Féinsenator for theAdministrative Panelwhile serving onBelfast City Council.Ian Marshall,a farmer and activist from aUnionistbackground, was elected to theAgricultural Panelin a by-election in April 2018.Mal O'Haraof Belfast, leader ofGreen Party Northern Ireland,was elected on theAdministrative Panelin 2024.

Notable former senators

For notable senators of the Seanad of the Irish Free State, seeSeanad Éireann (Irish Free State) § Notable members.

• Noël Browne
• Robert Malachy Burke
• Éamon de Buitléar
• James Dooge
• Garret FitzGerald
• Brian Friel
• Valerie Goulding
• Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond
• Maurice Hayes
• Michael D. Higgins
• Tras Honan
• Douglas Hyde
• Benjamin Guinness, 3rd Earl of Iveagh
• Cecil Lavery
• Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford
• Sam McAughtry
• Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich
• Catherine McGuinness
• John Magnier
• Seamus Mallon
• P. J. Mara
• Maurice George Moore
• Conor Cruise O'Brien
• Mary Robinson
• Bríd Rodgers
• James Ryan
• Owen Sheehy-Skeffington
• T. K. Whitaker
• Gordon Wilson

See also

• Bicameralism
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Records of members of the Oireachtas
• Senate of Northern Ireland
• Senedd(Wales)
• List of female members of Seanad Éireann
• List of addresses to Seanad Éireann

External links

• Report on Reform of the SeanadArchived5 January 2011 at theWayback Machine– Report of Seanad Éireann Committee on Procedure and Privileges Sub-Committee on Seanad Reform, from theOireachtas website.