Four Limerick candidates hopeful as counting begins in Seanad election

COUNTING is under way in the election for the 26th Seanad.

Three Limerick politicians are hoping to be elected to the upper house, with Maria Byrne, Fine Gael and Paul Gavan, Sinn Fein looking to secure a second term.

And Fine Gael man Tom Neville, who lost his Dail seat at the general election, is hoping to have better luck in this Seanad Eireann election.

He should know his fate by tomorrow, as boxes opened in Dublin Castle at 4pm today in the Cultural and Educational Panel.

Mr Neville is one of 21 candidates seeking five seats on this panel.

Tomorrow at 4pm, counting in the agricultural panel will commence. Ms Byrne, also an unsuccessful general election candidate is hoping to secure one of 11 seats here. There are 24 other candidates in the race here.

And on Wednesday afternoon, counting in the 11 seat Labour panel will commence. Union activist Mr Gavan is hoping for a berth here, and is on the ballot paper along with 19 other candidates.

Limerick-born solicitor Linda O’Shea-Farren is also hoping to win a Seanad seat and is contesting the Industrial and Commercial Panel. The former Presentation and Laurel Hill pupil has been based in Dublin for the past 25 years.  She is a member of the NUI Senate and a governor at UCC. 

There are 60 seats in the Seanad and the election follows on the general election.

Of these,43 seats are divided among five vocational panels: Culture and Education; Labour; Agriculture; Industrial and Commercial and finally, Administrative. Six seats are reserved for universities.

Councillors, newly elected TDs and outgoing senators are eligible to vote for the panels. There are also six university seats:  three for Trinity College and three for the National Universities of Ireland. Graduates have a right to vote for these seats.

In addition, the Taoiseach, elected by the new Dáil,  appoints 11 senators. The new Seanad cannot be completed until a government and Taoiseach are agreed. This could have implications for any new legislation proposed after next week’s count. 

Unlike Dail elections, each Seanad vote is counted in batches of 1,000. This is to aid the redistribution of surpluses, due to the small size of the electorate.

Stay with the Leader for updates on how the Limerick candidates are progressing, and follow @nick468official on Twitter.