A number of Northsiders were winners and losers in the recent Seanad elections.
Former Fingal TD Alan Farrell, Fine Gael’s most high-profile loss in November’s general election, failed to win a seat.
The former Fine Gael TD was appointed as a Senator almost immediately after losing his Dáil seat last November but failed to win a seat when he stood in the Industrial and Commerical Panel.
The Industrial and Commerical Panel saw independent Senator Sharon Keogan and Sinn Féin’s former Stormont finance minister Conor Murphy top the poll with Farrell never in contention for a seat.
In the same constituency, Northside Social Democrats councillor Joan Hopkins narrowly missed out on a seat; Hopkins received the sixth highest amount of first preferences but transfers failed to pan out for the Howth-Malahide councillor.
Fellow Northside Social Democrats councillor Paul Mulville also lost out on a seat in the Trinity panel, but the party did win its first-ever Seanad seat.
Patricia Stephenson won a seat for the party in the Labour panel, a result that Cian O’Callaghan hailed as “a landmark day for the party.”
The Seanad elections saw Aontú win their first-ever Seanad seat, with Sarah O’Reilly securing a Seanad presence for Aontú.
Party leader Peadar Tóibín said the victory capped a major year for the party as it increased its share of the vote and number of elected reps at a local and national level, and now has a Senator to boot.
The Trinity panel saw Tallaght’s Lynn Ruane top the poll while disability advocate Tom Clonan took the second seat.
The Finglas man held onto the seat he first won in a 2022 by-election.
In recent times, Clonan has become an advocate for disability rights in the Dáil and was one of the leading voices in the opposition to the previous government’s green paper on disability reform.
Clonan dubbed the reform as “something out of Dickens” and following pressure from elected reps and disability groups, the government quietly scrapped the plans last year.
2025 will be the final year in which the two separate university constituencies elect six Senators; reform brought in by the last government, after a legal case was filed by a University of Limerick graduate, will see the next Seanad election feature a five-seater constituency where graduates of all third-level institutions can vote.
The Greens left a seat behind them in the Dublin University panel; a split vote between former Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu (who received 8.1% of first preferences) and former Minister Ossian Smyth (7.8%) saw the Greens throw away a seat – the combined Green vote was 15.9%, enough to win the final seat, but the split vote allowed independent Senator Aubrey McCarthy, co-founder of Tiglin, to take the final seat.
The Greens did see some electoral success in the Seanad with former minister Malcolm Noonan topping the poll in the Agricultural panel and maintaining a Green presence in the Seanad.
The election was a mixed bag for Labour, who started the 2020 Seanad term with five Senators (including future leader Ivana Bacik) and now have two seats to their name.
Notably, the party lost their seat in the Administrative panel, a seat they had previously held since 1989.
Sinn Féin’s high-profile gambit of running Stormont finance minister Conor Murphy paid off, with Murphy winning a seat in the industrial and commercial panel.
Sinn Féin now have a total of six Senators in the Seanad.
Despite coming out on top in November’s general election and remaining the largest party in last June’s local elections, the party’s discipline seemingly broke down with the party losing five seats in the Seanad.
Fianna Fáil won 20 Seanad seats in 2020, but returned just 13 this time, tying them with Fine Gael.
Fianna Fáil won 20 Seanad seats in 2020, but returned just 13 this time, tying them with Fine Gael.
After Taoiseach picks were taken into account, Fianna Fáil ended up with 19 seats and Fine Gael ended up on 18.
Outgoing Senator Deirdre Fitzpatrick was the only successful Northside Seanad candidate for Fianna Fáil, with Fitzpatrick winning a seat in the Industrial and Commerical panel.
Independents were among the big winners in the new Seanad – former Tánaiste Michael McDowell walked to re-election in his race, while other high-profile independents such as Frances Black, Victor Boyhan and Eileen Flynn held onto their seats.
The Seanad will see more female representation over the next term; 20 of the 49 elected seats were won by women, a percentage of 40.8%, a stark contrast to the Dáil having 44 female TDs out of 174 (or 25.3%).