Vocational panel

A vocational panel (Irish: rolla gairm bheatha[1]) is any of five lists of candidates from which are elected a total of 43 of the 60[n 1] senators in Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of Ireland. Each panel corresponds to a grouping of "interests and services" (professions or vocations) of which candidates are required to have "knowledge and practical experience". The panels are nominated partly by Oireachtas members and partly by vocational organisations. From each panel, between five and eleven senators are elected indirectly, by Oireachtas members and local councillors, using the single transferable vote. The broad requirements are specified by Article 18 of the Constitution of Ireland and the implementation details by acts of the Oireachtas, principally the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, and associated statutory instruments.[2]

Interests and services, and subpanels

Article 18.7.1° of the Constitution defines the five panels and specifies that each shall elect between five and eleven senators. The 1947 act defines the numbers of senators to be elected from each of the panels, and also provides for the division of each panel into two subpanels: the nominating bodies subpanel and the Oireachtas subpanel, with a minimum number from each subpanel. The number of nominations any one body can make depends on both the number of bodies registered for the panel, and the number of senators elected from it.[3]

Senate vocational panels

Panel	Senators[4]		Nominating bodies (as of 2021)		"Interests and services" represented[5]
	Total	Min. per subpanel	Number[6]	Max nominees per body[3][n 2]
Administrative	7	3	22	1	"Public administration and social services, including voluntary social activities"
Agricultural	11	4	11	2	"Agriculture and allied interests, and fisheries"
Cultural and Educational	5	2	35	1	"The national language [i.e. Irish] and culture, literature, art, education" and "such professional interests as may be defined by law". The 1947 act lists two professional interests: "law" and "medicine, including surgery, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and pharmaceutical chemistry"
Industrial and Commercial	9	3	45	1	"Industry and commerce, including banking, finance, accountancy, engineering, and architecture"
Labour	11	4	2	7	"Labour, whether organised or unorganised"
Total	43	—	115	—	—

Nominations

All senators must be Irish citizens over the age of 21. Each panel has two subpanels, whose candidates are nominated separately:

• The nominating bodies subpanel (the "outside panel") — nominated by a registered "nominating body".
• The Oireachtas subpanel (the "inside panel") — nominated by four Oireachtas members, either senators or TDs (members of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas).[n 3]

Nominating bodies

A nominating body for a panel is an organisation whose work or members relates to one or more of the interests on the panel; for example, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) can nominate in the Labour Panel, and the Royal Irish Academy in the Cultural and Educational Panel. Bodies must be non-profit and meet minimum governance standards.[8] A body cannot be registered on two panels;[8] thus the Royal Dublin Society is on the Agricultural Panel but not the Cultural and Educational Panel. A body and an affiliate may not be registered on the same panel, but may be registered on different ones; for example the ICTU-affiliated Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) is on the Cultural and Educational Panel. The clerk of the Seanad maintains the register of nominating bodies, published annually in Iris Oifigiúil. Some bodies are very small — the minimum annual subscription of €317.43[n 4] has not increased since 1947 — and "it is even alleged that some ... exist for no other purpose than to make Seanad nominations".[9]

Bodies refused registration can appeal to a board comprising the Ceann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach (Dáil and Seanad speakers), their deputies, and a senior judge. In 1987 ICTU tried to have the Irish Conference of Professional and Service Associations (ICPSA) deregistered from the Labour Panel on the grounds that it had no independent existence and its members were professional associations but not labour unions.[10] The appeal board rejected the claim on the ground that one registered body could not object to a different body's registration.[11] Journalist Patrick Nolan commented that the ICPSA's Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael nominees had had more electoral success than ICTU's Labour-Party nominees.[10] In October 2018 separate meetings elected rival officer boards to the Irish Greyhound Owners and Breeders' Federation, a nominating body on the Agricultural Panel. In February 2019 the Seanad clerk updated the register with the newer officers' details. In June 2019 the appeal board ruled that, in view of continued uncertainty, the older officers' details should have been retained.[12]

Party strategy

The closing date for the nominating bodies subpanel is earlier than for the Oireachtas subpanel; political parties wait to see which of their candidates have secured nomination on an outside panel before deciding who to nominate on the inside panel.[13] Parties generally try to distribute their most popular candidates across both panels to avoid falling foul of the minimum-elected-per-subpanel rules.[14] Since the electorate is small and mostly of known party allegiance, larger parties have a good idea of how many quotas they can secure on each panel; they will always nominate at least that many candidates, but typically not many more, for fear of losing out on a seat through "leakage" of transfers. Parties have tight control of the Oireachtas subpanel nominations; in 1997, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael nominees were selected mainly by the parliamentary party and partly by the party leader, whereas the Labour Party's were selected by its General Council, surprisingly omitting high-profile ex-TDs.[15] The Progressive Democrats, having formed a coalition with Fianna Fáil after the general election, agreed not to field candidates in the panel election, in return for some of the direct Seanad appointments reserved for the Taoiseach (prime minister).[15] In 2002, Fine Gael gave its Dáil constituency organisations a say in nominations.[16] Since the 1990s, smaller parties have engaged in voting pacts, each having a nominee on a different panel.[17][18] In 1992 the Progressive Democrats and Democratic Left had a successful pact which saw senators elected. In 2016, whereas Gerard Craughwell successfully encouraged independents to support independents,[17] a pact between the Social Democrats and People Before Profit–Solidarity did not see any senator elected.^[citation needed]

Knowledge and practical experience

There is no statutory definition of what constitutes a sufficient degree of "knowledge and practical experience" of an interest or service to be eligible for nomination to the relevant panel.[19] The question is decided by the clerk of the Seanad, but may be referred by him, or appealed by the candidate, to a judge of the High Court appointed as "judicial referee".[20] No further judicial review is permitted.[20] In 2018 clerk Martin Groves said that "legislative guidelines would be of assistance to the returning officer and, I am sure, to candidates also".[19] Before the 1969 Seanad election, outgoing Labour-Panel senators John Ormonde and Séamus Dolan sought a pre-emptive High Court declaration that they were qualified, being members of a union (the INTO) affiliated to the ICTU.[21] The Seanad clerk[n 5] argued that as the INTO was itself a nominating body on the Cultural and Educational Panel, that was the panel on which they would be qualified.[21] Justice Denis Pringle, ruling in favour the plaintiffs, stated that it did not matter if they were better qualified for a different panel, and that, as regards the Labour Panel, while merely being in a union was insufficient, a candidate did not require "specialised" knowledge, and the plaintiff's testimony had established their qualifications.[22][19] The clerk commented that, while an application form with detailed evidence similar to the plaintiffs' testimony might have satisfied him, a form simply making a bare assertion of knowledge and practical experience would not.[21] In 2002, Kathy Sinnott successfully appealed her rejection from the Labour Panel; the clerk[n 6] argued that her work as a caregiver properly belonged to the Administrative Panel.[23] Sinnott rejected a suggestion that she chose the Labour Panel because its returning 11 rather than 7 senators increased her chances of winning.[23] In 2014, Fine Gael minister Heather Humphreys nominated John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) shortly before Fine Gael nominated him to a by-election on the Oireachtas subpanel of the Cultural and Educational Panel. The IMMA nomination was seen as an attempt to bolster McNulty's tenuous qualifications, and the ensuing controversy impelled him to withdraw his candidacy.[n 7][24] In the 2020 Seanad election, Paul Hayes was excluded from the Agricultural Panel on the basis that, although he had the required "knowledge" of fishing, he lacked "practical experience"; Hayes suggested that with more time he could have supplied sufficient documentation to support his case.[25]

Completion of panels

The "completion of panels" occurs in public on a specified date after nominations close, when the clerk of the Seanad, assisted by the judicial referee, excludes invalid nomination papers and unqualified nominees, and allows candidates nominated on multiple panels or subpanels to select which one to go forward on.[26][n 8] This creates a list of provisional subpanels. The minimum number of nominees for each subpanel is two plus the maximum number to be elected from the subpanel. If there are too few candidates on a provisional subpanel, the Taoiseach must nominate extra candidates to complete the panel.[29] In the 1997 Seanad election, Bertie Ahern was obliged to nominate four candidates across three Oireachtas subpanels, none of whom polled well in the ensuing election.[15] Whereas appointments directly to the Seanad must be by a Taoiseach elected after a Dáil general election, nomination of candidates to complete a panel may be by an acting Taoiseach. For example, in 2020 Leo Varadkar was acting Taoiseach after the Dáil election; in the ensuing Seanad election, Oireachtas members only nominated eight candidates to their subpanel of the Labour Panel, so Varadkar nominated one more to bring the total up to the minimum of nine.[30]

Election

In all panel elections postal voting is used. The clerk of the Seanad is the returning officer of the count, during which each ballot is given the value of 1,000 to aid the transfer of fractions of votes. The electoral college is the same for all of the vocational panels but varies between general and by-elections. At a Seanad general election the voters are members of city and county councils, the newly elected Dáil and the outgoing Seanad; as of 2020^[update] these number 949, 160, and 60 respectively, discounting any vacancies.[n 9] At a by-election the voters are the current members of the Dáil and Seanad.[35]

At a general election each panel is elected separately, the ballot listing nominees from both subpanels collated together in alphabetical order of surname. Voting is by the single transferable vote (STV), with the modification that a minimum number from each subpanel must be elected. The legislation requires the five panels' counts to be held consecutively rather than in parallel, which delays its completion.[36] Campaigns are out of the public eye but hard fought, as candidates travel the country to meet in person with as many as possible of the voters, who as public representatives themselves engage deeply with the process.[37] The processing of nominations and the posting out, receiving back, and counting of ballot papers requires close to the constitutional maximum of 90 days to complete.[38] The redistribution of an elected candidate's surplus is done by transferring a fractional value of all their votes, rather the full value of a (random) fraction of their votes as is done in Dáil elections. The Seanad method is more accurate but considered too cumbersome to implement at Dáil elections, which have much larger electorates.[39]

By-elections to fill a casual vacancy use instant runoff voting; if there are multiple vacancies on the same subpanel, separate parallel by-elections are held instead of a single multiple-seat STV by-election.[40] A by-election must be called within 180 days of a vacancy arising.[41] By-election nominations are from the same subpanel as the departed senator; no body can nominate multiple candidates.[7]

Practical effects of the panel system

In practice, the vocational element is largely notional.[42][43][44] The elaborate nomination and voting process is described as pointlessly complex.[45] Because the electorate is restricted to elected representatives, political parties have a great influence in the nominations. Many panel candidates aspire to stand in the following Dáil election, including ex-TDs and others defeated at the preceding Dáil election. Until the 1980s, candidates from the nominating bodies subpanels won the minimum permitted on each panel; this changed when bodies which had been nominating non-politicians switched to nominating party politicians.[46][17][47] In 1980 Roy C. Geary described as "ludicrous" the fact that the Royal Irish Academy routinely nominated its president for the time being onto the outside panel, despite knowing he would receive few votes, sometimes none at all.[48] The ballot is secret, so no party whip can be applied to the voters; however, analysis of transfers shows a high degree of party cohesion. Candidates typically concentrate on canvassing independent councillors as floating voters.[49] In the 2007 election from the Cultural and Educational Panel, because of the minimum-seats-per-subpanel rule, Fine Gael's Terence Slowey was eliminated despite having more votes than Ann Ormonde of Fianna Fáil; the Irish Independent commented on the "arcane rules" and Fine Gael's "poor planning and failure to anticipate the strategy of the opposition".[50]

The by-election limit of one nominee per body is most pertinent on the Labour panel, where there are only two nominating bodies: the ICTU, which is allied to the Labour Party, and the ICPSA. In a 1960 by-election, ICTU nominee Edward Browne was returned unopposed.[51] There was speculation before the 1998 by-election that Fianna Fáil's plan to secure the ICPSA nomination would be stymied by the ICPSA-affiliated Garda Representative Association's opposition to the Fianna Fáil-led government's policies;[52] but in the event John Cregan was nominated and won the seat.[53]

Seanad standing orders make no distinction between senators elected from a panel and other senators, or among different panels.[54] For example, of the four senators on the Oireachtas joint committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2017, only one had been elected from the Agricultural Panel; two were from other panels, while the fourth was a Taoiseach's appointee.[55] John Counihan in 1942 tried unsuccessfully to organise a meeting of Agricultural Panel senators, which Basil Chubb noted as a unique event.[56] While outgoing senators seeking re-election keep to the same panel as a rule, there are exceptions; Andy O'Brien, Peter Lynch and Joe O'Reilly were each returned from three different panels in their careers. The fact that the electorate is composed mainly of officials elected in party-political elections means the candidates they favour are also party-political rather than vocationally oriented.[17] Since the 2008 recession there has been an increased proportion of independent politicians elected at local and Dáil elections, which in turn has led to some independent senators returned from the panel elections since 2014;[17] some but not all of these have a greater focus on the functional areas of their panel. Prior to this, only a handful of independent vocational senators were elected under the 1947 act, the most recent being Seán Brosnahan of the INTO on the Labour Panel in 1973.[57]

History

The vocational aspect of the Seanad's constitution was a reflection of the influence of corporatism on Catholic social teaching of the 1930s, as outlined in the encyclical Quadragesimo anno.[n 10] This teaching influenced Éamon de Valera's thinking during the drafting of the 1937 Constitution.[59] Article 45 and 56 of the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State had made provision for delegating power to "Functional or Vocational Councils representing branches of the social and economic life of the Nation", which was never utilised.[60] The place of the Seanad in the new constitution was first discussed by a 1936 commission, which produced a majority and minority report, with dissenters from both.[59]

1936 Second House of the Oireachtas Commission recommendations[61]

Report	Fraction elected	Sectors of interest to be represented	Candidates nominated by	Electors
Majority	30 of 45	"National Language and Culture, the Arts, Agriculture (in all its forms) and Fisheries, Industry and Commerce, Finance, Health and Social Welfare, Foreign Affairs, Education, Law, Labour, Public Administration (including Town and Country Planning)."	A committee (not necessarily TDs) elected by TDs using proportional representation	Dáil election candidates, weighted by first-preference vote
Minority	40 of 50	"(1) Farming and Fisheries, (2) Labour, (3) Industry and Commerce, (4) Education and the learned Professions."	Largely by specified functional organisations; partly by the minister of the relevant department.	TDs

De Valera's 1937 Seanad took more from the minority report.[59] Echoing Articles 45 and 56 of the 1922 constitution,[60] Article 15.3.1° of the 1937 constitution permits "the establishment or recognition of functional or vocational councils representing branches of the social and economic life of the people" while Article 19 permits senators to be elected by a "functional or vocational group or association or council" instead of by a panel. The Article 18 panel mechanism was envisaged as a temporary measure until such time as Irish society and economic life would be structured on more corporatist lines and Article 19 could be applied instead. With this goal in mind a Commission on Vocational Organisation, chaired by bishop Michael Browne, was established in 1939. Its 1944 report paid little attention to Article 19, suggesting instead more radical constitutional changes, and was practically ignored by the government.[62] Surveys of the constitution have suggested Article 19 is now redundant.[63]

The original electoral method differed in several ways from that used since 1947:[64]

• Outgoing senators did not participate in voting or nominating. (Hence the inside panel was called the "Dáil subpanel" rather than the "Oireachtas subpanel".)
• Instead of all county councillors voting directly for the panel, each council elected seven of its members to the electoral college.[65]
• There was a single STV ballot paper listing all candidates for all panels in order of surname.[66] The requirement for specific numbers of winners from each of five panels (and ten subpanels) was preserved, greatly complicating the task for voters filling in the large ballot, and for eliminating candidates during the STV count process.
• The number of nominating bodies per panel was limited, and the registration appeals committee was composed entirely of TDs. The Labour Party boycotted the April 1938 Seanad election in protest that the Cottage Tenants and Rural Workers Association, a small group based in Ballingarry, County Limerick, had the same status as the ICTU on the Labour Panel.
• For casual vacancies in the nominating bodies subpanel, the bodies formed a committee which elected a shortlist of three candidates by multiple non-transferable vote; from these three a winner was selected by the Taoiseach.[67]
• the duties of returning officer at panel elections and registrar of panel nominating bodies were performed by a departmental civil servant[n 11] rather than the clerk of the Seanad.

For the April 1938 Seanad election, there were only 330 voters (24 of the 354 electors boycotted) which in a 43-seat ballot gave a quota of just eight votes to be elected.[64] There were rumours of vote buying after the first three Seanad election and finally two convictions after the 1944 Seanad election.[64] The Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937 was therefore repealed and replaced by the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, which is still in force with minor amendments.[64] It increased the size of the electoral college, split the panels into separate ballots, and increased the security procedures around postal voting.[64] Martin O'Donoghue argues that senators before the 1947 act often showed a genuine vocational orientation, but this was undermined by the corruption allegations.[43]

Until the Local Government Act 2001, the Minister for Local Government had the power to dissolve local councils.[69] Where a county or county borough's council was dissolved, its members retained the right to vote in Seanad panel elections.[70] This last applied at the 1973 Seanad election, to surviving members of Dublin Corporation at its 1969 dissolution.[71] The Local Government Reform Act 2014 changed the number of councillors on each city and county council, to be somewhat more aligned with each area's population. The 2016 Seanad election reflected this demographic shift in the panel electorate with an increase in the number returned from more populous urbanised areas at the expense of more rural areas.[72]

Reform proposals

Seanad reform proposals may be divided into those requiring amending the Constitution of Ireland via referendum, and those limited to amendment of statute law within the existing constitutional parameters. Those in the former group typically suggest abolishing the vocational aspect of the Seanad as ineffectual and based on outdated political thinking.[42] Proposals in the latter group typically suggest altering the nomination process and the franchise. The 1958–59 Seanad Electoral Law Commission proposed changing the electorate for the outside subpanel from elected representatives to the nominating bodies.[73] Opponents of such a change have suggested that, rather than replacing party politics with vocationalism in the Seanad, it would instead politicise the nominating bodies.[74] The 2015 Manning report recommended that "the concept of vocational representation be retained but modernised", with 13 panel senators still elected on the current limited franchise, and the other 30 popularly elected.[75] The 2018 report of the Seanad Reform Implementation Group was based on the Manning report but altered these numbers to 15 and 28.[76] In both reports, all citizens over 18 could register either for one of the five nominating bodies subpanels or (if a graduate) for the university constituency, but not both.[77]

See also

• 1969 French constitutional referendum — rejected proposal to merge the Economic, Social and Environmental Council into the Senate
• Functional constituency — in Hong Kong and Macao

References

Footnotes

1. Of the other 17 senators, 6 are elected from university constituencies and 11 are appointed by the Taoiseach (prime minister).
2. This maximum applies only in a general election; in a by-election, the maximum is one.[7]
3. At a Seanad general election, eligible nominators are the incoming TDs and the outgoing senators.
4. £250[8]
5. John McGowan Smyth (Seán MacGabhann)
6. Deirdre Lane
7. His name remained from the ballot paper, but he urged electors not to vote for him.[24]
8. In the 1981 Seanad election, one candidate was nominated on two different panels, and another on both subpanels of one panel.[27] On the other hand, candidates may be nominated by more than one body on the same outside panel, as in the 2020 Seanad election were John Dolan by seven on the Administrative Panel and Timmy Dooley by five on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.[28]
9. Typically, some local councillors and members of the old Seanad will have just been elected to the new Dáil, vacating their former seats. In the case of a senator appointed by a Taoiseach, the outgoing acting Taoiseach will nominate a replacement in time for the panel election.[31][32] Typically, local councils likewise co-opt replacements in time,[33] but no by-elections are held to replace outgoing panel or university senators.[31] Labour temporarily co-opted Kevin Humphreys to Fingal County Council to replace new TD Robert O'Donoghue after the 2024 Dáil election; Humphreys would vote Labour in the ensuing Seanad election but be replaced on the council by the winner of a later party selection convention.[34] Someone holding multiple seats (before the 2003 abolition of the dual mandate) would only get one vote in the panel elections.[31]
10. Basil Chubb points out that the corporatist idea was already undermined by the separation of "Labour" from "Industry and Commerce" and "Administration", dividing by social class rather than economic sector.[58]
11. Wilfred Brown of the Department of Local Government.[68]

Sources

Primary

• Irish Statute Book:
  • "Constitution of Ireland". Articles 18–19. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  • "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937". Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  • "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) (Bye-Elections) Act 1940". Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  • "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947". Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  • "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1954". Retrieved 31 March 2020.
• Groves, Martin (10 March 2020). "Panels of candidates prepared by the Seanad Returning Officer pursuant to Section 43 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, as amended by the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1954" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil (20A). Retrieved 8 April 2020.

Secondary

• Chubb, Basil (1 June 1954). "Vocational Representation and the Irish Senate". Political Studies. 2 (2): 97–111. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.1954.tb01017.x. S2CID 144226531 – via Internet Archive.
• Chubb, Basil (2014) [1992]. The Government and Politics of Ireland (3rd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-89645-6.
• Coakley, John (1987). "The Senate Elections". In Penniman, Howard Rae; Farrell, Brian (eds.). Ireland at the Polls, 1981, 1982, and 1987: A Study of Four General Elections. Duke University Press. pp. 192–205. ISBN 978-0-8223-0786-0. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
• Coakley, John; Manning, Maurice (1999). "The Senate Elections". In Marsh, Michael (ed.). How Ireland Voted 1997. Studies in Irish Politics. Oxford: Westview. pp. 195–214. ISBN 978-0-8133-3217-8. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Coakley, John (2011). "The Final Seanad Election?" (PDF). In Gallagher, Michael; Marsh, Michael (eds.). How Ireland Voted 2011: The Full Story of Ireland's Earthquake Election. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 240–263. ISBN 978-0-230-34881-3. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
• Coakley, John (2013). "Seanad: Reform or Redundancy?". Reforming political institutions : Ireland in comparative perspective. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration. pp. 90–136. ISBN 978-1-904541-33-2 – via Internet Archive.
• Gallagher, Michael; Weeks, Liam (2003). "The Subterranean Election of the Seanad". In Gallagher, Michael; Marsh, Michael; Mitchell, Paul (eds.). How Ireland voted 2002. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 197–213. doi:10.1057/9780230379046_10. ISBN 9780230379046. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
• O'Leary, Don (2000). Vocationalism and Social Catholicism in Twentieth-century Ireland: The Search for a Christian Social Order. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-7165-2667-4.
• Seanad Reform Implementation Group (December 2018). Report of the Seanad Reform Implementation Group (PDF). Retrieved 6 April 2020.

Citations

1. "Olltoghchán an tSeanaid, 2020" (in Irish). Oireachtas. 3 April 2020. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020. Foilseofar na torthaí comhairimh is déanaí do na cúig rolla gairm bheatha anseo díreach tar éis toradh gach comhairimh a fhógairt.
2. "Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947". Irish Statute Book. 20 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
3. "s.26(2) of the 1947 act as amended by s.7 of the 1954 act". Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
4. "1947 act s.52". Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
5. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 s.3". Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
6. "Register of Nominating Bodies as revised at the annual revision and signed by the Seanad Returning Officer in pursuance of section 19 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, as amended" (PDF). Oireachtas. 19 March 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
7. 1947 act s.58A(1)(b) inserted by s.11 of 1954 act Archived 2020-03-02 at the Wayback Machine
8. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, s.8". Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
9. Gallagher and Weeks 2003, p.199
10. Nolan, Patrick (27 February 1987). "ICTU objects to group's Senate rights". The Irish Times. p. 4. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
11. "ICTU appeal on Senate invalid". The Irish Times. 17 July 1987. p. 6. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
12. Rogan, Aaron (7 July 2019). "We've been muzzled for raising dogs' welfare, say whistleblowers". Sunday Business Post. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
13. Coakley 1987 pp.194–195
14. Coakley and Manning 1999 p.209
15. Coakley and Manning 1999 p.203
16. Gallagher and Weeks 2003 p.202
17. Murphy, Mary C. (2016). "The Seanad Election: Second Chamber, Second Chance". In Gallagher, Michael; Marsh, Michael (eds.). How Ireland Voted 2016: The Election that Nobody Won. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 227–253. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-40889-7_10. ISBN 9783319408880. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
18. Reidy, Theresa (2007). "The Seanad Election". In Gallagher, Michael; Marsh, Michael (eds.). How Ireland Voted 2007: The Full Story of Ireland's General Election. Springer. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-0-230-59799-0. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
19. Groves, Martin (12 June 2018). Seanad Reform Implementation Group (ed.). "Third Meeting" (PDF). Appendix: Presentation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
20. 1947 act §§36(2)(b)(ii), 38
21. "Outgoing Senators Seek Declaration". The Irish Times. 9 July 1969. p. 11. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
22. "Senators win in election action". The Irish Times. 10 July 1969. p. 7. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
23. Molony, Senan (20 June 2002). "Disability rights campaigner to run for Seanad". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
24. McGee, Harry (4 October 2014). "Why is the John McNulty affair so important?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
25. O'Mahony, Kieran (25 March 2020). "Hayes disappointed as Seanad nomination bids fail". The Southern Star. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
26. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 s.36". electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB). Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
27. Coakley 1987 p.195
28. Groves 2020 pp. 8, 11
29. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 s.37". electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB). Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
30. Groves 2020 p.6; O'Halloran, Marie (10 March 2020). "FG's Mary Seery Kearney added to ticket to contest Seanad election". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
31. Coakley and Manning 1999 p.198
32. O'Halloran, Marie (14 March 2016). "Former Labour TDs to compete for Seanad seats". The Irish Times. p. 2. Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
33. Flaherty, Rachel (14 March 2016). "Rush to fill vacant seats created by councillors elected to Dáil". The Irush Times. p. 2. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
34. O'Halloran, Marie (18 December 2024). "Minister of State Malcolm Noonan sole Green Party Seanad candidate". The Irish Times. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
35. 1947 act s.58A(8) inserted by s.11 of 1954 act Archived 2020-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, and s.69 Archived 2020-03-02 at the Wayback Machine
36. Coghlan, Denis (16 August 1989). "Seanad election grinds to a count". The Irish Times. p. 8. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
37. Gallagher and Weeks 2003
38. Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.7 §5.4
39. Coakley and Manning 1999 p.199
40. 1947 act s.58
41. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 s.56(1)". Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
42. Coakley 2011 p.243 "These three reports acknowledged the impossibility of giving effect to any meaningful form of vocational representation"
43. O'Donoghue, Martin (17 December 2015). "'As nearly subservient' as it could be? Vocationalism and senatorial speaking behaviour in the Irish Senate 1938–45". Parliaments, Estates and Representation. 36 (2): 211–231. doi:10.1080/02606755.2015.1108575. S2CID 146771416.
44. Butler, Andrew; O'Connell, Rory (1998). "A Critical Analysis of Ireland's Constitutional Review Group Report". Irish Jurist. 33: 240. ISSN 0021-1273. JSTOR 44027304. particularly obvious legal fictions (e.g. ... the Senate as an assembly representing vocational interest groups, etc.)
45. Chubb 2014 p.198; Mulvagh, Conor (September 2013). "Historical precedents and modern propositions for Ireland's upper house". History Hub. UCD School of History & Archives. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020. The unique composition and convoluted selection procedures of our present upper chamber are most certainly bizarre and out-dated.
46. Coakley and Manning 1999 pp.208–209
47. Sutton, Ralph G. (1958). "A Real Seanad". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 47 (186): 171. ISSN 0039-3495. JSTOR 30098989.
48. Geary, R. C. (1980). "Some Thoughts on the Working of Democracy in Ireland" (PDF). Administration. 28 (4). Institute of Public Administration of Ireland: 450. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
49. Coakley and Manning 1999 p.206
50. "'Electrifying' FG fails to light up Seanad contest". Irish Independent. 27 July 2007. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
51. • "Nominations for Senate by-elections". The Irish Times. 7 October 1960. p. 7. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
    • "Mr. Edward Browne [picture caption]". The Irish Times. 12 October 1960. p. 9. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
52. • Holohan, Renagh (2 May 1998). "Quidnunc: By-election blues". The Irish Times. p. 16. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
    • Tynan, Maol Muire (21 May 1998). "Seanad nomination gives FF problems". The Irish Times. p. 6. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
53. • Tynan, Maol Muire (27 May 1998). "FF's nominee seems likely to win Seanad seat". The Irish Times. p. 6. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
    • "Election of Member". Seanad Éireann (21st Seanad) debates. Houses of the Oireachtas. 23 June 1998. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
54. "Standing Orders relative to Public Business" (PDF). Seanad Éireann. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
55. "Agriculture Committee to discuss tillage and malt industries". www.oireachtas.ie (Press release). Oireachtas. 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.; "Names Of The Members Nominated And Of The Members Elected". Seanad Éireann (25th Seanad) debates. Oireachtas. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
56. • Chubb 1954 p. 109, citing
    • Counihan, John (15 July 1942). "Election of Panel Members — Motion to appoint Select Committee". Seanad Éireann (3rd Seanad) debates. Oireachtas. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
57. Weeks, Liam (9 March 2011). "Electing Seanad Independents". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
58. Chubb 2014 p.197 "the composition of the panels, with labour separated from management, seemed actually to go contrary to those very [vocational] principles"
59. O'Donoghue, Martin (2019). "Vocational voices or puppets of the Lower House? Irish senators, 1938–1948.". In Bijleveld, Nikolaj; Grittner, Colin; Smith, David E.; Verstegen, Wybren (eds.). Reforming Senates: Upper Legislative Houses in North Atlantic Small Powers 1800–present. Routledge Studies in Modern History. London: Routledge. pp. 204–214. doi:10.4324/9780429323119-18. ISBN 9780367339685. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
60. "Extension of Vocational Organisation". Seanad Éireann (2nd Seanad) debates. Oireachtas. 13 July 1938. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
61. Second House of the Oireachtas Commission (November 1936). Report (PDF). Official publications. Vol. P.2475. Dublin: Stationery Office. Chapter III [majority report] pp.9–11, §§17, 21–25, Chapter X [minority report] pp.30–33, §§14–17. OCLC 863521464. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
62. Lee, Joseph J. (1979). "Aspects of Corporatist Thought in Ireland: The Commission on Vocational Organisation, 1939–43.". In Cosgrove, Art; McCartney, Donal (eds.). Studies in Irish History: Presented to R. Dudley Edwards. Dublin: University College Dublin. pp. 324–46. ISBN 0901120618. OCLC 464504344.; Swift, John (1 May 1975). "Report of Commission on Vocational Organisation (and it's Times, 1930-'40's)". Saothar. 1 (1). Irish Labour History Society: 54–63. JSTOR 23194163.
63. Casey, J. P. [James P. ] (1987). Constitutional law in Ireland. London: Sweet & Maxwell. p. 106. Retrieved 12 April 2020.; Constitution Review Group (1996). Report of the Constitution Review Group (PDF). Stationery Office. Seanad Éireann; Other issues; 8: A redundant article?. ISBN 9780707624402. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011.
64. Byrne, Elaine (2013). "Past Reforms and Present Policy: examining the Seanad Electoral(Panel Members) Act, 1947". History Hub. University College Dublin. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
65. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937 s.37". Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
66. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937 s.40(1)". Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
67. Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) (Bye-Elections) Act 1940, Part II
68. Garvin, Tom (1969). The Irish Senate. Institute of Public Administration. p. 28.
69. "Local Government Act 1941". Irish Statute Book. Part IV. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
    • replaced "Local Government Act 1925, s.72". Irish Statute Book. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
    • repealed by "Local Government Act 2001, s.5(1) and Schedule 3 Part 1". Irish Statute Book. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
70. "Questions; Oral Answers; Dissolution of Dublin Corporation". Dáil Éireann (18th Dáil) debates. Oireachtas. 1 May 1969. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
71. Potter, Matthew (2011). The Municipal Revolution in Ireland: A Handbook of Urban Government in Ireland Since 1800. Irish Academic Press. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-7165-3082-4.
72. Kavanagh, Adrian (28 April 2016). "Seanad Elections 2016 – A Final Overview". Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
73. Coakley 2011 p.261 fn.8; Maltby, Arthur; McKenna, Brian (2013). Irish Official Publications: A Guide to Republic of Ireland Papers, with a Breviate of Reports 1922–1972. Elsevier. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-1-4831-8882-9. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2020.; "Seanad Electoral Law Commission: Implementation of Recommendations". Seanad Éireann (9th Seanad) debates. Oireachtas. 17 February 1960. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
74. Russell, Meg (1999). "A Vocational Upper House?: Lessons from Ireland". Constitution Unit Publications (36). London: School of Public Policy, UCL. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
75. Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.17 Annex 2 (ii, vi, vii)
76. Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.8 §5.10
77. Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.17 Annex 2(ii) & Appendix [Seanad Bill 2018] p.57 §51(1)

External links

• Seanad election details since 2002, Oireachtas website