The dust has only just settled on General Election 2024, and already a new election is under way.
This time it is for the Seanad, the Upper House of the Oireachtas
In recent weeks, 143 candidates hoping to win a seat in the next Seanad have been making their pitches to people who are eligible to vote in the election, which under the Constitution must take place within 90 days of the dissolution of the Dáil.
Among the candidates are several former TDs who lost their seats in November’s General Election (Ossian Smyth, Joe Flaherty, Anne Rabbitte, Chris Andrews, Alan Farrell, Malcolm Noonan, Pauline Tully and Cathal Berry).
A former presidential candidate (Liadh Ní Riada), a controversial former minister attempting to make a return to Irish politics (Katherine Zappone) and a Stormont minister for the economy (Conor Murphy) have also thrown their names into the Seanad hat.
And they are joined by a diverse array of other contenders, ranging from Independents to well-known campaign group representatives, to high-profile councillors hoping to make the step into national politics – not to mention the sitting senators who are just as keen to keep their place for another five years.
In all, 60 seats are available in the Upper House.
But with 11 of those positions ringfenced for appointment by the Taoiseach, in reality the 143 Seanad candidates are in reality fighting for 49 available seats across seven panels – National University of Ireland (3 seats), the Dublin University/Trinity College (3 seats), Cultural and Educational (5 seats), Agricultural (11 seats), Industrial and Commercial (9 seats), Administrative (7 seats), and Labour (11 seats).
Due to the limitations on who can vote in the Seanad election (only TCD and NUI university graduates, members of the incoming Dáil, members of the outgoing Seanad, and sitting councillors may do so), candidates have focused on targeted postal and social media campaigns.
Candidates for the vocational panels have also been meeting councillors face-to-face in recent weeks seeking their support.
Whether their efforts are successful will not be known until the end of the month.
Counting of votes begins shortly after polls close. For the university panels that will be at 11am on 29 January, while for the vocational panels polls close at 11am on 30 January.
National University of Ireland panel
12 candidates, three seats
Sandra Adams
Hilary Beirne
Ronan Collins
Eva Dowling
Alice Mary Higgins
Marie Keenan
Mairead Kenny
Dara Kilmartin
Michael McDowell
Rónán Mullen
Michael O Doherty
Linda O’Shea Farren
Dublin University/Trinity College panel
16 candidates, three seats
Abbis Ali O’Shea
Derek Byrne
Kevin Byrne
Hazel Chu
Tom Clonan
Laoise de Brún
Hugo MacNeill
Marcus Matthews
Aubrey McCarthy
John (Jack) Mulcahy
Paul Mulville
Ade Oluborode
Sadhbh O Neill
Lynn Ruane
Ossian Smyth
Katherine Zappone
Vocational – Cultural and Educational panel
22 candidates, five seats
Lorraine Clifford-Lee
Shane Curley
Máirín McGrath
Angela Flynn
Shane O’Callaghan
Gearóid Murphy
Sabina Purcell
Joe Conway
Éanna Ní Lamhna
Rob Power
Seán Kyne
Mikey Sheehy
Imran Khurshid
Teresa Costello
Kensika Monshengwo
Michelle Hayes
Liadh Ní Riada
Pauline Tully
Cathal Byrne
Carmel Brady
Joe Flaherty
Sharon Tolan
Vocational – Agricultural panel
29 candidates, 11 seats
Victor Boyhan
Eileen Lynch
Michael D O’Shea
Paul Daly
Pat Fitzpatrick
Paraic Brady
Niall Kelleher
Matt Dempsey
Niall Blaney
Tim Durkan
Gillian Coughlan
Cillian Keane
Tim Lombard
PJ Murphy
Maria Byrne
Eugene Murphy
Gerry McMunn
Aisling Dolan
Paddy O’Rourke
Breandán Fitzgerald
Becky Kealy
Noel Thomas
Sarah O’Reilly
Angela Feeney
Joanne Collins
John McNulty
Malcolm Noonan
Teresa Costello
Imelda Goldsboro
Vocational – Labour panel
19 candidates, 11 seats
Gerard Craughwell
Robbie Gallagher
Margaret Murphy O’Mahony
Joe O’Reilly
Anna Grainger
Michael Smyth
Bernard Moynihan
Paul Gavan
Daithí Doolan
Nessa Cosgrove
Patricia Stephenson
Chris Andrews
Maria McCormack
Mark Duffy
Mike Kennelly
Leonora Carey
Anne Rabbitte
Pat Casey
Jimmy Kavanagh
Vocational – Industrial and Commercial panel
27 candidates, nine seats
Tony Mulcahy
Aidan Davitt
Sharon Keogan
Adrian Cummins
Vanessa Foran
Danny Byrne
Kate Feeney
Declan Burgess
Matt J. Shanahan
Mary Fitzpatrick
Garret Kelleher
Sinéad Lucey Brennan
Gerry Horkan
Donal Kissane
Ollie Crowe
David Pratt
Joe Kelly
Linda Nelson Murray
Michael Naughton
Laura Harmon
Joan Hopkins
Frances Patricia Black
David Fitzgerald
Mary Seery Kearney
Alan Farrell
Conor Murphy
Dee Ryan
Vocational – Administrative panel
16 candidates, seven seats
Martin Conway
Ann Marie Flanagan
Mark Daly
Joan Carthy
Fiona O’Loughlin
Richie Molloy
Eugene Murphy
Niamh Madden
Justin Moylan
Cathal Berry
Darragh Moriarty
Diarmuid Wilson
Nicole Ryan
Garret Ahearn
Noel O’Donovan
Vicki Casserly
Conor Bergin
Eileen Flynn
