26th Seanad
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The 26th Seanad has been in office since 2020. The nominated by the Taoiseach (Micheál Martin ) on 27 June 2020.
The 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.[1] 33 members (55%) of the 26th Seanad were unsuccessful candidates at the 2020 general election, 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 is the first Irish Traveller to be a member of the Seanad.[2]
Senator Mark Daly was elected as Cathaoirleach at the opening of the term, and Senator Jerry Buttimer as Leas Cathaoirleach. As part of a government rotation agreement between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Green Party, Jerry Buttimer replaced Daly as Cathaoirleach on 16 December 2022, with Daly becoming Leas Cathaoirleach.[1] 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 Seán 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 rotation in Seanad leadership followed the corresponding rotation of Taoiseach and Tánaiste on 17 December, for the second half of the Dáil/Seanad term.[3][4] Electoral systemThere 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 (University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Galway and Maynooth University) and three seats are elected by graduates of the University of Dublin (as Trinity College Dublin is the sole constituent college, this is often referred to as the Trinity College constituency).[5] Article 18.8 of the Constitution requires that an election for Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy signed the orders for the Seanad election.[6]
Timetable
Composition of the 26th Seanad
Government parties denoted with bullets (●) Leadership
Government
Opposition
List of senators
Changes
References
External links
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