2025 Seanad election

2025 Seanad election

29–30 January 2025
60 members of the Seanad Éireann 30 seats needed for a majority
Incumbent Leader of the Seanad Lisa Chambers Fianna Fáil

An indirect election to the 27th Seanad is scheduled to place in January 2025 after the 2024 general election to the 34th Dáil in November 2024. Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas, with Dáil Éireann as its lower house. There are 60 seats in the Seanad. Polls will close for six senators elected in two university constituencies on 29 January and for 43 senators elected on five vocational panels on 30 January; the remaining 11 senators are to be nominated by the Taoiseach, who is appointed next after the meeting of the 34th Dáil.

Background

The Constitution of Ireland provides that a Seanad election must take place within 90 days of the dissolution of the Dáil Éireann. The 33rd Dáil was dissolved on 8 November 2024. On 15 November 2024, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Darragh O'Brien, signed an order for the Seanad elections, providing 29 January as the deadline for ballots for the vocational panels and 30 January as the deadline for ballots in the university constituencies.

Electoral system

There are 60 seats in the Seanad, each elected via one of three methods: direct election via voters who are university graduates, indirect election via a body of other previously elected politicians, or appointment by the Taoiseach.

All votes are cast by postal ballot, and are counted using the single transferable vote. Under this system, voters can rank candidates in order of their preference (1 as their first preference, 2 for second preference, and so on). In counting votes for the vocational panels, ballots are initially given a value of 1,000 to allow calculation of quotas where all ballots are distributed in the case of a surplus, rather than taking a representative sample as is done in counting votes for the university constituencies or Dáil elections. The quota for election is given as $\left({\frac {\text{total valid poll}}{{\text{seats}}+1}}\right)+1$.

University constituencies

Six senators are directly elected from two university constituencies: three from the National University constituency and three from the Dublin University (Trinity College Dublin) constituency. This will be the last general election from these constituencies. Under the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Act 2024, at the next Seanad general election held after 21 March 2025, they will be substituted by a new six-seat Higher Education constituency.

Vocational panels

Forty-three senators are indirectly elected by an electorate of elected politicians, consisting of members of the incoming 34th Dáil, members of the outgoing 26th Seanad, and currently sitting city and county councillors, who have ballots for each of the five vocational panels. The Seanad Returning Officer maintains a list of qualified nominating bodies for each panel. Candidates may be nominated by nominating bodies (outside sub-panel) or by members of the Oireachtas (inside sub-panel). In each vocational panel, there is a minimum number who must be elected from either the inside or the outside sub-panel. If the number of candidates nominated for each sub-panel does not exceed by two the maximum number which may be elected from that sub-panel, the Taoiseach shall nominate candidates to fill the deficiency.

Electors for the panels elect:

• Seven seats from the Administrative Panel, with a minimum of three from inside and outside sub-panels: Public administration and social services (including the voluntary sector).
• Eleven seats from the Agricultural Panel, with a minimum of four: Agriculture and the fisheries.
• Five seats from the Cultural and Educational Panel, with a minimum of two: Education, the arts, the Irish language and Irish culture and literature.
• Nine seats from the Industrial and Commercial Panel, with a minimum of three: Industry and commerce (including engineering and architecture).
• Eleven seats from the Labour Panel, with a minimum of four: Labour (organised or otherwise).

Appointment

The 11 nominated senators can only be appointed by the Taoiseach, who is appointed next after the reassembly of Dáil Éireann.

Election process

Timetable of 2025 Seanad election

Deadline	Universities	Vocational Panel
Nominations close	6 December 2024	18 December 2024 ("outside" panel: nominating bodies — civic society groups) 31 December 2024 ("inside" panel: Oireachtas members)
Completion of panels	—	8 January 2025
Ballot papers distributed	30 December 2024	15 January 2025
Polls close	29 January 2025, 11 a.m.	30 January 2025, 11 a.m.