Seanad Éireann

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

• Eleven nominated by the Taoiseach.
• Six elected by the graduates of certain Irish universities:
  • Three by graduates of the University of Dublin.
  • Three by graduates of the National University of Ireland.
• Forty-three elected from five special panels of nominees (known as vocational panels) by an electorate consisting of TDs (members of Dáil Éireann), outgoing senators and members 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 the Administrative Panel: Public administration and social services (including the voluntary sector).
  • Eleven seats on the Agricultural Panel: Agriculture and the fisheries.
  • Five seats on the Cultural and Educational Panel: Education, the arts, the Irish language and Irish culture and literature.
  • Nine seats on the Industrial and Commercial Panel: Industry and commerce (including engineering and architecture).
  • Eleven seats on the Labour 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 of proportional representation by means of the single 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.[2] Vacancies to the university seats are filled by the full electorate in that constituency.

The powers of Seanad Éireann are modelled loosely on those of the British House 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, the Seanad can only delay rather than veto decisions of the Dáil. In practice, however, the Seanad has an in-built government majority due to the Taoiseach's nominees. The constitution imposes the following specific limitations on the powers of the Seanad:

• If a bill approved 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 the Third 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.[3]
• 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 the Government (cabinet) with the concurrence of the President (this does not apply to bills to amend the constitution).
• The fact that 11 senators are appointed by the Taoiseach usually ensures that the Government, which must have the support of the Dáil, also enjoys a plurality in the Seanad.

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.[4]
• 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 he or she can refuse to sign it until it has been approved either in an ordinary referendum or by the Dáil after it has reassembled after a general election.

Seanad Éireann adopts its own standing orders and appoints its president, known as the Cathaoirleach ("Chair"). The Taoiseach appoints a senator to be Leader of the House and direct government business there. The Seanad establishes its own standing committees and select committee; senators also participate, along with TDs (members of the Dáil) in joint committees of the Oireachtas. A maximum of two senators may be ministers in the Government.

Since 1928, twelve separate official reports have been published on reform of the Seanad.[7] In the past the Progressive Democrats called 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 of patronage in 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 of Northern Ireland. In 1999 the Reform Movement called 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. The Seventh Amendment in 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 in fact taken place since then.

In 2019, Tomás Heneghan, a University of Limerick graduate issued a High Court challenge to the limitation of voting rights to graduates of National University of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, and Oireachtas and local authority members.[8] The case was heard by a three-judge division of the High Court in 2021.[9] The challenge was rejected by the court later that year.[10] On 31 March 2023, following a direct appeal on the point of university graduates voting, the seven-judge Supreme Court ruled in Heneghan's favour and struck down the 1937 law limiting the right to vote to NUI and Trinity College graduates.[11] However, the court suspended its ruling taking effect until 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 the Free 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 Senator Michael McDowell.[12]

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 in line with the outcome of the 1979 referendum.[13]

In October 2009, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny stated 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."[14] During the 2011 election campaign, Labour, Sinn Féin and the Socialist Party also supported abolition of the Seanad,[15][16][17] while Fianna Fáil supported a referendum on the issue.[18] The programme of the Fine Gael–Labour coalition, which came to power at the election, sought to abolish the Seanad as part of a broader programme of constitutional reform,[19] but lost a referendum on the matter in October 2013 by 51.7% to 48.3%.

Taoisigh have often included people from Northern Ireland among their eleven nominees, such as John Robb (served 1982–89), Seamus Mallon (1982–83) of the SDLP, Bríd Rodgers (1983–87) also of the SDLP, peace campaigner Gordon Wilson (1993–97), businessman Edward Haughey (1994–2002), Maurice Hayes (1997–2002), and Emer Currie (2020–present).

Sam McAughtry was elected to the Industrial and Commercial Panel in a by-election in February 1996. Niall Ó Donnghaile was elected in April 2016 as a Sinn Féin senator for the Administrative Panel while serving on Belfast City Council. Ian Marshall, a farmer and activist from a Unionist background, was elected to the Agricultural Panel in a by-election in April 2018.[20]

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• Report on Reform of the Seanad Archived 5 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine – Report of Seanad Éireann Committee on Procedure and Privileges Sub-Committee on Seanad Reform, from official Oireachtas website.