Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Seanad Election: Voting in Unprecedented Times

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
How Ireland Voted 2020

Abstract

The Seanad election campaign is usually a unique process requiring candidates to traverse the country, but in 2020 it was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Campaigning moved online, and the election count took place under strict social distancing guidelines and without the presence of candidates and campaign teams, who followed proceedings online. The chapter provides a detailed overview of the regulations governing the complex Seanad electoral process and the strategies adopted by parties and candidates. An evaluation of the election results and the characteristics of the senators in the 26th Seanad are provided, along with an assessment of the potential for future Seanad reform which has been the enduring debate in, and about, Seanad Éireann almost since its inception.

I am very grateful to the candidates, electors and party strategists who agreed to be interviewed for this chapter. Thank you to Dr Adrian Kavanagh (Maynooth University), who provided me with access to his database of candidates in the 2020 Seanad elections. For a full list of candidates per panel, see his blog: https://adriankavanaghelections.org/2020/02/17/elections-to-26th-seanad-2020-lists-of-nominated-declared-candidates/.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Interparliamentary Union (IPU), IPU Parline: Global data on national parliaments, https://data.ipu.org/.

  2. 2.

    Muiris MacCarthaigh and Shane Martin, ‘Precarious bicameralism? Senates in Ireland from the late middle ages to the present’, in Nikolaj Bijleveld et al. (eds), Reforming Senates: Upper Legislative Houses in North Atlantic Small Powers 1800–Present (London: Routledge, 2019), p. 240.

  3. 3.

    Mel Farrell, Party Politics in a New Democracy: the Irish Free State, 1922–37 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2017), p. 103.

  4. 4.

    Michael Gallagher, ‘The Oireachtas: president and parliament’, pp. 164–90 in John Coakley and Michael Gallagher (eds), Politics in the Republic of Ireland, 6th edition (London: Routledge and PSAI Press, 2018), pp. 183–4.

  5. 5.

    Farrell, Party Politics in a New Democracy, p. 288.

  6. 6.

    Martin O’Donoghue, ‘Vocational voices or puppets of the lower house? Irish senators, 1938–1948’, pp. 202–13 in Bijleveld et al. (eds), Reforming Senates.

  7. 7.

    MacCarthaigh and Martin, ‘Precarious bicameralism?’, p. 244.

  8. 8.

    Mary C. Murphy, ‘The Seanad election: second chamber, second chance’, pp. 227–53 in Michael Gallagher and Michael Marsh (eds), How Ireland Voted 2016: the election that nobody won (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), p. 234.

  9. 9.

    Michael Gallagher and Liam Weeks, ‘The subterranean election of the Seanad’, pp. 197–213 in Michael Gallagher, Michael Marsh and Paul Mitchell (eds), How Ireland Voted 2002 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002), p. 199.

  10. 10.

    Murphy, ‘The Seanad election’, p. 232.

  11. 11.

    Kieran O’Mahony, ‘Hayes disappointed as Seanad nomination bids fail’, The Southern Star 25 March 2020.

  12. 12.

    This is a recommendation of the Report on the Seanad Reform Working Group 2015.

  13. 13.

    Seanad Reform Implementation Group—Third Meeting, 12 June 2018, available at: https://assets.gov.ie/3593/301118151408-17c7dc50bc56471da257862ca08cdf67.pdf#page=5.

  14. 14.

    This point was made by a successful outside candidate in an interview for this chapter.

  15. 15.

    Juno McEnroe, ‘FG’s Kate O’Connell not selected to contest Seanad elections’, Irish Examiner, 28 February 2020.

  16. 16.

    Justine McCarthy, ‘Big names in Green Party fail to secure nominations’, The Times, 1 March 2020.

  17. 17.

    Murphy, ‘The Seanad election’, p. 237.

  18. 18.

    To facilitate counting each vote is given a value of 1000. See Appendix D for a full explanation of PR-STV.

  19. 19.

    The Clerk and clerk assistant of the Seanad and Clerk and clerk assistant of the Dáil are authorised to witness the votes of TDs and Senators, but they did not do so in 2020 because of the pandemic. See Marie O’Halloran, ‘Coronavirus: Seanad election procedures changed over concerns’, Irish Times, 19 March 2020.

  20. 20.

    John Coakley, ‘The final Seanad election?’, pp. 240–63 in Michael Gallagher and Michael Marsh (eds), How Ireland Voted 2011: the full story of Ireland’s earthquake election (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), pp. 247–8.

  21. 21.

    Averil Power, ‘On the campaign trail’, pp. 134–8 in Gallagher and Marsh (eds), How Ireland Voted 2011.

  22. 22.

    This is how it was described by an interviewee who was elected to a vocational seat in 2020.

  23. 23.

    Murphy, ‘The Seanad election’, p. 237.

  24. 24.

    This practice was discussed by party strategists who were interviewed for this research.

  25. 25.

    For the distribution of seats between nominating bodies and Oireachtas sub-panels in Seanad elections from 1987 to 2016, see Houses of the Oireachtas (2016), Seanad General Election, April 2016 and Bye-Elections to 2011–16 Seanad, p. 49. Available at: https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/electoralProcess/electionResults/seanad/2017/2017-07-19_seanad-general-election-april-2016-and-bye-elections-to-2011-16_en.pdf.

  26. 26.

    Coakley, ‘The final Seanad election?’, p. 253.

  27. 27.

    This issue was raised by candidates and strategists in a number of parties.

  28. 28.

    Marie O’Halloran, ‘Poor showing for women in Seanad elections as Varadkar’s plea ignored’, Irish Times, 2 April 2020.

  29. 29.

    Marie O’Halloran, ‘Dramatic climax to Seanad count as five contenders compete for four seats’, Irish Times, 3 April 2020.

  30. 30.

    The NUI constituency consists of University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), Maynooth University and NUI Galway.

  31. 31.

    Maurice Manning, ‘The Senate’, available at: http://www.nui.ie/elections/referendum/docs/The_Senate_Maurice_Manning.pdf.

  32. 32.

    The Trinity electorate also includes foundation scholarship students who are Irish citizens and at least 21 years of age.

  33. 33.

    Laura Cahillane, ‘Why reform of Seanad Éireann should start with the electorate’, RTE Brainstorm, available at: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2018/0529/966821-why-reform-of-seanad-eireann-should-start-with-the-electorate/.

  34. 34.

    Ibid and Coakley, ‘The final Seanad election?’, p. 253.

  35. 35.

    Manning, ‘The Senate’.

  36. 36.

    The NUI electorate in 2020 was 112,216 (available at: http://www.nui.ie/news/2020/SE2020Live.asp). The Trinity College electorate is approximately 65,000 (available at: https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/libraryResearch/2020/2020-02-26_l-rs-infographic-seanad-eireann-electoral-process_en.pdf).

  37. 37.

    Murphy, ‘The Seanad election’, p. 243.

  38. 38.

    Anecdotally, some candidates expressed concerns that voters abroad might not have had sufficient time to return their vote. Freepost is available only to electors living within the state, and this may also negatively impact on the propensity of overseas graduates to vote.

  39. 39.

    Marie O’Halloran, ‘Seanad election turnout of NUI graduates tops Trinity’, The Irish Times 25 March 2020.

  40. 40.

    Coakley, ‘The final Seanad election?’, pp. 254–5.

  41. 41.

    Results for the university seats are produced by the universities themselves. The NUI count is available at: http://www.nui.ie/news/2020/SE2020Live.asp. The University of Dublin count is available at: https://www.tcd.ie/seanad/results/.

  42. 42.

    Pat Leahy, ‘Coalition talks reach “do-or-die” stage as parties struggle to make progress’, Irish Times, 8 June 2020.

  43. 43.

    Marie O’Halloran, ‘Senators to go ahead with High Court case over Seanad sittings’, Irish Times, 12 June 2020.

  44. 44.

    Ann O’Loughlin, ‘High Court rules first lawful meeting of Seanad must have 60 members’, Irish Examiner, 29 June 2020.

  45. 45.

    Kitty Holland, ‘Seanad nominees welcomed by National Women’s Council’, Irish Times, 28 June 2020.

  46. 46.

    Ibid.

  47. 47.

    Maggie Doyle, ‘“Phenomenal” to be nominated as senator, says Travellers’ rights campaigner’, RTE.ie, 28 June 2020.

  48. 48.

    Coakley, ‘The final Seanad election?’, p. 257.

  49. 49.

    Vivienne Clarke, ‘“Huge insult” not to be told about Seanad snub, says Marshall’, Irish Times 30 June 2020.

  50. 50.

    The Oireachtas Library and Research Service produced an infographic of the 2020 Seanad election results, which can be accessed here: https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/libraryResearch/2020/2020-07-02_l-rs-infographic-seanad-election-2020-a-statistical-profile_en.pdf.

  51. 51.

    Interparliamentary Union (IPU), Global overview of COVID-19: Impact on elections, https://www.idea.int/news-media/multimedia-reports/global-overview-covid-19-impact-elections.

  52. 52.

    Murphy, ‘The Seanad election’, p. 246.

  53. 53.

    The report can be accessed at: https://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/final-seanad-reform-web-version.pdf.

  54. 54.

    The report can be accessed at: https://assets.gov.ie/5245/211218143426-25949b1b57ce47d5aff3eb83402fb99e.pdf.

  55. 55.

    Marie O’Halloran, ‘Referendum result on extending Seanad vote may be put into effect after 41 years’, Irish Times, 22 June 2020.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), Dún Laoghaire, Ireland

    Claire McGing

Authors
  1. Claire McGing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claire McGing .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Michael Gallagher

  2. Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Michael Marsh

  3. Department of Government and Politics, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Theresa Reidy

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

McGing, C. (2021). The Seanad Election: Voting in Unprecedented Times. In: Gallagher, M., Marsh, M., Reidy, T. (eds) How Ireland Voted 2020. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66405-3_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation