Series of local candidates contest Seanad election

Campaigning is heating up for the Seanad elections, with a number of locally-based candidates seeking to take a seat in the Upper House of the Oireachtas.

Ballinasloe Fine Gael Senator Aisling Dolan is contesting the agricultural panel in the forthcoming Seanad elections.

Dolan was nominated by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association and is currently crisscrossing the country on her election campaign.

Dolan said she is delighted to have been given the opportunity to contest the election and to meet public representatives throughout the country.

She said her campaign is focusing on the need for an Oireachtas presence for Fine Gael in the Roscommon/Galway constituency.

Dolan contested the general election for the party in the constituency in November, along with Dympna Daly-Finn, but neither were elected, leaving the constituency without a Fine Gael Dáil presence.

“That we have a voice within Fine Gael representing our region is absolutely crucial,” she said.

Dolan is a sitting senator. Although she contested the 2020 Seanad election unsuccessfully on the agricultural panel, she was subsequently among the Taoiseach's nominees to the Seanad.

At the time, Dolan was a relatively new Fine Gael member, and something of an unfamiliar face to councillors and public representatives.

She says having contested various elections in the interim and having been active in the Seanad for four years, she wants to continue to represent Roscommon/Galway, citing her work on the Ballaghadereen-Scramogue Road and the 50-bed unit at Portiuncula hospital among her achievements.

Senator Paul Daly, from Kilbeggan, is backing his track record in the Seanad since 2016 in his bid for a third successive successful election from the agricultural panel, having been nominated to contest the election by the Agricultural Scientists Association.

He said: “I got elected in 2016, and re-elected in 2020 so I must have been doing something right. If it was right then, I'm hoping it is right now.”

Daly is also a part-time small farmer, and says he can bring that real-life experience to the table.

“I have the muck on the boots, and the dirt under the finger nails,” he said, stating that he can talk about agricultural issues with first-hand experience, which he says was how the Seanad was initially designed by Éamon De Valera.

He said he is also offering himself as a dedicated senator, someone to work for the agricultural sector, and to represent councillors across the country.

The dynamic of this Seanad election is a little different, following the recent local elections and the arrival of a new swathe of councillors, some of whom he is only having the first opportunity to meet.

Also on the ticket is Roscommon Independent Senator Eugene Murphy.

Murphy was nominated by the Irish Dairy Executive Board to contest the agricultural panel. He also secured a nomination for the administrative panel, but has withdrawn from that contest.

Murphy successfully ran in 2020 on the agricultural panel, having received what is known as an 'inside' nomination, from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party to run.

Of course, the Scramogue man left the party in controversial circumstances in the run up to November's general election, after he lost the selection convention, and subsequently was not added to the ticket. Instead, he ran as an independent while Fianna Fáil's sole candidate Dr Martin Daly was successful and now sits in Dáil Éireann for Roscommon/Galway.

Murphy says he is well qualified to represent the Agricultural panel, having a degree in horticulture and having broadcast regularly on farming issues for Shannonside/Northern Sound.

Although he says his nomination to run was late in the day, his campaign is now "up and running", in what will be a short window with ballot papers expected to be issued to councillors around the country on January 15, with voting closing on January 30.

"There a lot of work to be done," he says, citing also the arrival of a batch of first-time councillors following the local election, and a coterie of new independent representatives.

Murphy acknowledges that running outside Fianna Fáil on this occasion "will be a drawback", but he said he felt very strongly that he did the right thing in contesting the general election as an independent, producing what he said was "a good performance".

"I felt I wasn't properly treated and that the county wasn't properly treated," he said.

However, describing that episode in his political life as "water under the bridge", Murphy said he was now focused firmly on "an all-out effort" to retain his Seanad seat. With eleven seats up for grabs, among 21 candidates, Murphy said he will be canvassing councillors for their No 1s, 2s, 3s, all the way down to 10s and 11s.

"It's going to be tough," he admits, but said: "I'll be staying politically active irrespective of whether I get the Seanad or not."

Meanwhile, Mullingar Fianna Fáil Senator Aidan Davitt is also seeking his third stint in the Seanad.

Davitt was first elected to the Seanad on the Industrial & Commercial Panel in 2016 and was returned in 2020.

He was Fianna Fáil Seanad Spokesperson for Public Expenditure & Reform in the 26th Seanad.

He is again contesting the Industrial & Commercial Panel.

Michéal Carrigy, from South Longford, who was elected to the Industrial & Commercial Panel, in 2020 has since become a TD. However, Joe Flaherty, who lost his Dáil seat for Longford/Westmeath, is seeking election to the Seanad on the Cultural and Educational Panel.

HOW THE SEANAD IS ELECTED

Polling for the Seanad election opens on January 15 and closes on January 30

The Seanad comprises 60 members, 49 of whom are elected, while 11 are nominated by the Taoiseach.

The 49 to be elected come from various panels, including five vocational panels, and two university panels.

The five panels are Administrative panel (7 members), Agricultural panel (11 members), Cultural and educational panel (five to be elected), Industrial and Commercial panel (nine members) and Labour panel (11 members).

There are also three senators to be elected from the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel, and three from the University of Dublin Trinity College panel.

The electorate for the various vocational panels comprises county and city councillors, sitting TDs and outgoing senators.

There are two sub panels for each vocational panel. Candidates for these sub panels are selected by either a registered nominating organisation, or by members of the incoming Dáil or outgoing Seanad, referred to as inside nomination.

A specified minimum number of members must be elected for each sub-panel, as follows: Cultural and Educational (2), Agricultural (4), Labour (4), Industrial and Commercial (3), Administrative (3).

In other words, there must be at least two senators elected from the Cultural and Educational panel from the nominating bodies sub panel, and two from the Oireachas inside nominations.

For the university panels, the constituencies are the National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin (Trinity College). Each elects 3 members. The other universities and institutions of higher education are not represented in the Seanad at present.

Those who have a degree,, from these universities concerned, except for honorary degrees, who are at least 18 years old and who are citizens of Ireland, are entitled to vote in the university panels.