Vocational panel

Article 18.7.1° of the Constitution defines the five panels and specifies that each shall elect between five and eleven senators. The 1947 act defines the numbers of senators to be elected from each of the panels, and also provides for the division of each panel into two subpanels: the nominating bodies subpanel and the Oireachtas subpanel, with a minimum number from each subpanel. The number of nominations any one body can make depends on both the number of bodies registered for the panel, and the number of senators elected from it.

All senators must be Irish citizens over the age of 21. Each panel has two subpanels, whose candidates are nominated separately:

• The nominating bodies subpanel (the "outside panel") — nominated by a registered "nominating body".
• The Oireachtas subpanel (the "inside panel") — nominated by four Oireachtas members, either senators or TDs (members of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas).{{#tag:ref|At a Seanad general election, eligible nominators are the incoming TDs and the outgoing senators.|group="n"}}

A nominating body for a panel is an organisation whose work or members relates to one or more of the interests on the panel; for example, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) can nominate in the Labour Panel, and the Royal Irish Academy in the Cultural and Educational Panel. Bodies must be non-profit and meet minimum governance standards.{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/8/enacted/en/html#sec8 |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, s.8 |access-date=2020-04-06 |archive-date=2020-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302121702/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/8/enacted/en/html#sec8 |url-status=live }} A body cannot be registered on two panels; thus the Royal Dublin Society is on the Agricultural Panel but not the Cultural and Educational Panel. A body and an affiliate may not be registered on the same panel, but may be registered on different ones; for example the ICTU-affiliated Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) is on the Cultural and Educational Panel. The clerk of the Seanad maintains the register of nominating bodies, published annually in Iris Oifigiúil. Some bodies are very small — the minimum annual subscription of €317.43{{#tag:ref|£250|group="n"}} has not increased since 1947 — and "it is even alleged that some ... exist for no other purpose than to make Seanad nominations".Gallagher and Weeks 2003, p.199

Bodies refused registration can appeal to a board comprising the Ceann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach (Dáil and Seanad speakers), their deputies, and a senior judge. In 1987 ICTU tried to have the Irish Conference of Professional and Service Associations (ICPSA) deregistered from the Labour Panel on the grounds that it had no independent existence and its members were professional associations but not labour unions.{{cite news |last1=Nolan |first1=Patrick |title=ICTU objects to group's Senate rights |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1987/0227/Pg004.html#Ar00400 |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=27 February 1987 |page=4}} The appeal board rejected the claim on the ground that one registered body could not object to a different body's registration.{{cite news |title=ICTU appeal on Senate invalid |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1987/0717/Pg006.html#Ar00607 |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=17 July 1987 |page=6}} Journalist Patrick Nolan commented that the ICPSA's Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael nominees had had more electoral success than ICTU's Labour-Party nominees. In October 2018 separate meetings elected rival officer boards to the Irish Greyhound Owners and Breeders' Federation, a nominating body on the Agricultural Panel. In February 2019 the Seanad clerk updated the register with the newer officers' details. In June 2019 the appeal board ruled that, in view of continued uncertainty, the older officers' details should have been retained.{{cite news |last1=Rogan |first1=Aaron |title=We've been muzzled for raising dogs' welfare, say whistleblowers |url=https://www.businesspost.ie/news-focus/weve-been-muzzled-for-raising-dogs-welfare-say-whistleblowers-42b230a7 |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 April 2020 |work=Sunday Business Post |date=7 July 2019 |language=en |archive-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407205154/https://www.businesspost.ie/news-focus/weve-been-muzzled-for-raising-dogs-welfare-say-whistleblowers-42b230a7 |url-status=live }}

The closing date for the nominating bodies subpanel is earlier than for the Oireachtas subpanel; political parties wait to see which of their candidates have secured nomination on an outside panel before deciding who to nominate on the inside panel.Coakley 1987 pp.194–195 Parties generally try to distribute their most popular candidates across both panels to avoid falling foul of the minimum-elected-per-subpanel rules.Coakley and Manning 1999 p.209 Since the electorate is small and mostly of known party allegiance, larger parties have a good idea of how many quotas they can secure on each panel; they will always nominate at least that many candidates, but typically not many more, for fear of losing out on a seat through "leakage" of transfers. Parties have tight control of the Oireachtas subpanel nominations; in 1997, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael nominees were selected mainly by the parliamentary party and partly by the party leader, whereas the Labour Party's were selected by its General Council, surprisingly omitting high-profile ex-TDs. The Progressive Democrats, having formed a coalition with Fianna Fáil after the general election, agreed not to field candidates in the panel election, in return for some of the direct Seanad appointments reserved for the Taoiseach (prime minister). In 2002, Fine Gael gave its Dáil constituency organisations a say in nominations.Gallagher and Weeks 2003 p.202 Since the 1990s, smaller parties have engaged in voting pacts, each having a nominee on a different panel.{{cite book |last1=Reidy |first1=Theresa |editor-last1=Gallagher |editor-first1=Michael |editor-last2=Marsh |editor-first2=Michael |chapter=The Seanad Election |title=How Ireland Voted 2007: The Full Story of Ireland's General Election |date=2007 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-59799-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xAuBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |pages=195–196 |access-date=6 April 2020 |language=en |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923095236/https://books.google.com/books?id=xAuBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |url-status=live }} In 1992 the Progressive Democrats and Democratic Left had a successful pact which saw senators elected. In 2016, whereas Gerard Craughwell successfully encouraged independents to support independents, a pact between the Social Democrats and People Before Profit–Solidarity did not see any senator elected.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

There is no statutory definition of what constitutes a sufficient degree of "knowledge and practical experience" of an interest or service to be eligible for nomination to the relevant panel.{{cite web |last1=Groves |first1=Martin |title=Third Meeting |no-pp=y |url=https://assets.gov.ie/3593/301118151408-17c7dc50bc56471da257862ca08cdf67.pdf#page=5 |editor=Seanad Reform Implementation Group |access-date=5 April 2020 |page=Appendix: Presentation |date=12 June 2018 |archive-date=26 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226120520/https://assets.gov.ie/3593/301118151408-17c7dc50bc56471da257862ca08cdf67.pdf#page=5 |url-status=live }} The question is decided by the clerk of the Seanad, but may be referred by him, or appealed by the candidate, to a judge of the High Court appointed as "judicial referee".1947 act §§36(2)(b)(ii), 38 No further judicial review is permitted. In 2018 clerk Martin Groves said that "legislative guidelines would be of assistance to the returning officer and, I am sure, to candidates also". Before the 1969 Seanad election, outgoing Labour-Panel senators John Ormonde and Séamus Dolan sought a pre-emptive High Court declaration that they were qualified, being members of a union (the INTO) affiliated to the ICTU.{{cite news |title=Outgoing Senators Seek Declaration |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1969/0709/Pg011.html#Ar01100 |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=9 July 1969 |page=11}} The Seanad clerk{{#tag:ref|John McGowan Smyth (Seán MacGabhann)|group="n"}} argued that as the INTO was itself a nominating body on the Cultural and Educational Panel, that was the panel on which they would be qualified. Justice Denis Pringle, ruling in favour the plaintiffs, stated that it did not matter if they were better qualified for a different panel, and that, as regards the Labour Panel, while merely being in a union was insufficient, a candidate did not require "specialised" knowledge, and the plaintiff's testimony had established their qualifications.{{cite news |title=Senators win in election action|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1969/0710/Pg007.html#Ar00704 |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=10 July 1969 |page=7}} The clerk commented that, while an application form with detailed evidence similar to the plaintiffs' testimony might have satisfied him, a form simply making a bare assertion of knowledge and practical experience would not. In 2002, Kathy Sinnott successfully appealed her rejection from the Labour Panel; the clerk{{#tag:ref|Deirdre Lane|group="n"}} argued that her work as a caregiver properly belonged to the Administrative Panel.{{cite news |last1=Molony |first1=Senan |title=Disability rights campaigner to run for Seanad |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/disability-rights-campaigner-to-run-for-seanad-26045385.html |access-date=8 April 2020 |work=Irish Independent |language=en |date=20 June 2002 |archive-date=12 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212065258/http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/disability-rights-campaigner-to-run-for-seanad-26045385.html |url-status=live }} Sinnott rejected a suggestion that she chose the Labour Panel because its returning 11 rather than 7 senators increased her chances of winning. In 2014, Fine Gael minister Heather Humphreys nominated John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) shortly before Fine Gael nominated him to a by-election on the Oireachtas subpanel of the Cultural and Educational Panel. The IMMA nomination was seen as an attempt to bolster McNulty's tenuous qualifications, and the ensuing controversy impelled him to withdraw his candidacy.{{#tag:ref|His name remained from the ballot paper, but he urged electors not to vote for him.|group="n"}}{{cite news |last1=McGee |first1=Harry |title=Why is the John McNulty affair so important? |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/why-is-the-john-mcnulty-affair-so-important-1.1951624 |access-date=5 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=4 October 2014 |language=en |archive-date=11 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811193435/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/why-is-the-john-mcnulty-affair-so-important-1.1951624 |url-status=live }} In the 2020 Seanad election, Paul Hayes was excluded from the Agricultural Panel on the basis that, although he had the required "knowledge" of fishing, he lacked "practical experience"; Hayes suggested that with more time he could have supplied sufficient documentation to support his case.{{cite news |last1=O'Mahony |first1=Kieran |title=Hayes disappointed as Seanad nomination bids fail |url=https://www.southernstar.ie/news/hayes-disappointed-as-seanad-nomination-bids-fail-4202457 |access-date=5 April 2020 |work=The Southern Star |date=25 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921084303/https://www.southernstar.ie/news/hayes-disappointed-as-seanad-nomination-bids-fail-4202457 |url-status=live }}

The "completion of panels" occurs in public on a specified date after nominations close, when the clerk of the Seanad, assisted by the judicial referee, excludes invalid nomination papers and unqualified nominees, and allows candidates nominated on multiple panels or subpanels to select which one to go forward on.{{cite web |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 s.36 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/36/enacted/en/html |website=electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) |access-date=31 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=2 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302123409/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/36/enacted/en/html |url-status=live }}{{#tag:ref|

In the 1981 Seanad election, one candidate was nominated on two different panels, and another on both subpanels of one panel.Coakley 1987 p.195

On the other hand, candidates may be nominated by more than one body on the same outside panel, as in the 2020 Seanad election were John Dolan by seven on the Administrative Panel and Timmy Dooley by five on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.Groves 2020 pp. 8, 11

|group="n"}} This creates a list of provisional subpanels. The minimum number of nominees for each subpanel is two plus the maximum number to be elected from the subpanel. If there are too few candidates on a provisional subpanel, the Taoiseach must nominate extra candidates to complete the panel.{{cite web |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 s.37 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/37/enacted/en/html |website=electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) |access-date=31 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=2 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302121732/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/37/enacted/en/html |url-status=live }} In the 1997 Seanad election, Bertie Ahern was obliged to nominate four candidates across three Oireachtas subpanels, none of whom polled well in the ensuing election.Coakley and Manning 1999 p.203 Whereas appointments directly to the Seanad must be by a Taoiseach elected after a Dáil general election, nomination of candidates to complete a panel may be by an acting Taoiseach. For example, in 2020 Leo Varadkar was acting Taoiseach after the Dáil election; in the ensuing Seanad election, Oireachtas members only nominated eight candidates to their subpanel of the Labour Panel, so Varadkar nominated one more to bring the total up to the minimum of nine.Groves 2020 p.6; {{cite news |last1=O'Halloran |first1=Marie |title=FG's Mary Seery Kearney added to ticket to contest Seanad election |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fg-s-mary-seery-kearney-added-to-ticket-to-contest-seanad-election-1.4198771 |date=10 March 2020 |access-date=31 March 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |archive-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028181649/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fg-s-mary-seery-kearney-added-to-ticket-to-contest-seanad-election-1.4198771 |url-status=live }}

In all panel elections postal voting is used. The clerk of the Seanad is the returning officer of the count, during which each ballot is given the value of 1,000 to aid the transfer of fractions of votes. The electoral college is the same for all of the vocational panels but varies between general and by-elections. At a Seanad general election the voters are members of city and county councils, the newly elected Dáil and the outgoing Seanad; {{as of|2025|lc=y}} these number 949, 174, and 60 respectively,{{cite news |last1=McQuinn |first1=Cormac |title=Q&A: How the Seanad election works, who’s running and what are the key races? |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/01/07/qa-how-the-seanad-election-works-whos-running-and-what-are-the-key-races/ |access-date=5 February 2025 |work=The Irish Times |date=7 January 2025 |language=en}} discounting any vacancies.{{#tag:ref|

Someone holding multiple seats (before the 2003 abolition of the dual mandate) would only get one vote in the panel elections.Coakley and Manning 1999 p.198

Typically, some local councillors and members of the old Seanad will have just been elected to the new Dáil, vacating their former seats; in some cases a replacement can be nominated in time to vote in the panel elections. No by-elections are held to replace outgoing panel or university senators.

Replacing a Taoiseach-appointed senator can be done by an incoming Taoiseach (elected by the new Dáil){{cite news |last1=O'Halloran |first1=Marie |title=Former Labour TDs to compete for Seanad seats |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/former-labour-tds-to-compete-for-seanad-seats-1.2571697 |access-date=3 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=14 March 2016 |page=2 |archive-date=3 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803193013/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/former-labour-tds-to-compete-for-seanad-seats-1.2571697 |url-status=live }} but not by the outgoing Taoiseach (who is acting Taoiseach until the new Dáil elects a replacement). Thus, when Hildegarde Naughton was elected to the Dáil in 2016, acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny was not able to nominate a replacement Senator to vote in the ensuing Seanad election.

Typically, local councils co-opt replacements in time.{{cite news |last1=Flaherty |first1=Rachel |title=Rush to fill vacant seats created by councillors elected to Dáil |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/2016/0314/Pg002.html#Ar00203 |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 April 2020 |work=The Irish Times |date=14 March 2016 |page=2}} Whereas three members of Fingal County Council were elected in the 2024 Dáil election, two replacements were co-opted in time for the ensuing Seanad election, for the Sinn Féin and Labour councillors but not the Socialist Party's.{{cite web |title=New councillors co-opted to Fingal County Council |url=https://www.fingal.ie/news/new-councillors-co-opted-fingal-county-council |publisher=Fingal County Council |access-date=5 February 2025 |language=en |date=18 December 2024}} Labour's Kevin Humphreys was a "temporary co-option" who would vote for Labour candidates in the Seanad election and later resign to be replaced on the council by the winner of a party selection convention.{{cite news |last1=O'Halloran |first1=Marie |title=Minister of State Malcolm Noonan sole Green Party Seanad candidate |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/oireachtas/2024/12/18/minister-of-state-malcolm-noonan-sole-green-party-seanad-candidate/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=18 December 2024 |work=The Irish Times |date=18 December 2024 }}

|group="n"}} At a by-election the voters are the current members of the Dáil and Seanad.1947 act [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1954/act/1/section/11/enacted/en/html s.58A(8) inserted by s.11 of 1954 act] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302121816/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1954/act/1/section/11/enacted/en/html |date=2020-03-02 }}, and [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/69/enacted/en/html#sec69 s.69] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302121640/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/69/enacted/en/html#sec69 |date=2020-03-02 }}

At a general election each panel is elected separately, the ballot listing nominees from both subpanels collated together in alphabetical order of surname. Voting is by the single transferable vote (STV), with the modification that a minimum number from each subpanel must be elected. The legislation requires the five panels' counts to be held consecutively rather than in parallel, which delays its completion.{{cite news |last1=Coghlan |first1=Denis |title=Seanad election grinds to a count |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1989/0816/Pg008.html#Ar00803 |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=16 August 1989 |page=8 |archive-date=5 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205064628/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1989/0816/Pg008.html#Ar00803 |url-status=live }} Campaigns are out of the public eye but hard fought, as candidates travel the country to meet in person with as many as possible of the voters, who as public representatives themselves engage deeply with the process.Gallagher and Weeks 2003 The processing of nominations and the posting out, receiving back, and counting of ballot papers requires close to the constitutional maximum of 90 days to complete.Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.7 §5.4 The redistribution of an elected candidate's surplus is done by transferring a fractional value of all their votes, rather the full value of a (random) fraction of their votes as is done in Dáil elections. The Seanad method is more accurate but considered too cumbersome to implement at Dáil elections, which have much larger electorates.Coakley and Manning 1999 p.199

By-elections to fill a casual vacancy use instant runoff voting; if there are multiple vacancies on the same subpanel, separate parallel by-elections are held instead of a single multiple-seat STV by-election.1947 act s.58 A by-election must be called within 180 days of a vacancy arising.{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/56/enacted/en/html |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 s.56(1) |access-date=2020-04-02 |archive-date=2020-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302121639/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/section/56/enacted/en/html |url-status=live }} By-election nominations are from the same subpanel as the departed senator; no body can nominate multiple candidates.1947 act [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1954/act/1/section/11/enacted/en/html s.58A(1)(b) inserted by s.11 of 1954 act] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302121816/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1954/act/1/section/11/enacted/en/html |date=2020-03-02 }}

In practice, the vocational element is largely notional.{{cite journal |last1=O'Donoghue |first1=Martin |title='As nearly subservient' as it could be? Vocationalism and senatorial speaking behaviour in the Irish Senate 1938–45 |journal=Parliaments, Estates and Representation |date=17 December 2015 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=211–231 |doi=10.1080/02606755.2015.1108575|s2cid=146771416 }}{{cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=Andrew |last2=O'Connell |first2=Rory |title=A Critical Analysis of Ireland's Constitutional Review Group Report |journal=Irish Jurist |date=1998 |volume=33 |pages=240 |jstor=44027304 |issn=0021-1273 |quote=particularly obvious legal fictions (e.g. ... the Senate as an assembly representing vocational interest groups, etc.)}} The elaborate nomination and voting process is described as pointlessly complex.Chubb 2014 p.198; {{cite web |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Conor |title=Historical precedents and modern propositions for Ireland's upper house |url=http://historyhub.ie/seanad-precedents |website=History Hub |publisher=UCD School of History & Archives |access-date=10 April 2020 |language=en |date=September 2013 |quote=The unique composition and convoluted selection procedures of our present upper chamber are most certainly bizarre and out-dated. |archive-date=10 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410170459/http://historyhub.ie/seanad-precedents |url-status=live }} Because the electorate is restricted to elected representatives, political parties have a great influence in the nominations. Many panel candidates aspire to stand in the following Dáil election, including ex-TDs and others defeated at the preceding Dáil election. Until the 1980s, candidates from the nominating bodies subpanels won the minimum permitted on each panel; this changed when bodies which had been nominating non-politicians switched to nominating party politicians.Coakley and Manning 1999 pp.208–209{{cite journal |last1=Sutton |first1=Ralph G. |title=A Real Seanad |jstor=30098989 |journal=Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review |date=1958 |volume=47 |issue=186 |page=171 |issn=0039-3495}} In 1980 Roy C. Geary described as "ludicrous" the fact that the Royal Irish Academy routinely nominated its president for the time being onto the outside panel, despite knowing he would receive few votes, sometimes none at all.{{cite journal |last1=Geary |first1=R. C. |title=Some Thoughts on the Working of Democracy in Ireland |journal=Administration |date=1980 |volume=28 |issue=4 |page=450 |url=https://www.lenus.ie/bitstream/handle/10147/559266/irishhousingsubsidies.pdf?sequence=1#page=84 |publisher=Institute of Public Administration of Ireland |access-date=2020-04-10 |archive-date=2021-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923095238/https://www.lenus.ie/bitstream/handle/10147/559266/irishhousingsubsidies.pdf?sequence=1#page=84 |url-status=live }} The ballot is secret, so no party whip can be applied to the voters; however, analysis of transfers shows a high degree of party cohesion. Candidates typically concentrate on canvassing independent councillors as floating voters.Coakley and Manning 1999 p.206 In the 2007 election from the Cultural and Educational Panel, because of the minimum-seats-per-subpanel rule, Fine Gael's Terence Slowey was eliminated despite having more votes than Ann Ormonde of Fianna Fáil; the Irish Independent commented on the "arcane rules" and Fine Gael's "poor planning and failure to anticipate the strategy of the opposition".{{cite news |title='Electrifying' FG fails to light up Seanad contest |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/electrifying-fg-fails-to-light-up-seanad-contest-26307351.html |access-date=6 April 2020 |work=Irish Independent |date=27 July 2007 |language=en |archive-date=6 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406114139/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/electrifying-fg-fails-to-light-up-seanad-contest-26307351.html |url-status=live }}

The by-election limit of one nominee per body is most pertinent on the Labour panel, where there are only two nominating bodies: the ICTU, which is allied to the Labour Party, and the ICPSA. In a 1960 by-election, ICTU nominee Edward Browne was returned unopposed.{{multiref|

{{cite news |title=Nominations for Senate by-elections |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1960/1007/Pg007.html#Ar00709 |access-date=7 November 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=7 October 1960 |url-access=subscription |page=7}}|

{{cite news |title=Mr. Edward Browne [picture caption] |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1960/1007/1012/Pg009.html#Ar00920 |access-date=7 November 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=12 October 1960 |url-access=subscription |page=9}}

}} There was speculation before the 1998 by-election that Fianna Fáil's plan to secure the ICPSA nomination would be stymied by the ICPSA-affiliated Garda Representative Association's opposition to the Fianna Fáil-led government's policies;{{multiref|

{{cite news |last1=Holohan |first1=Renagh |title=Quidnunc: By-election blues |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/by-election-blues-1.148376 |access-date=7 November 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=2 May 1998 |page=16 |language=en}}|

{{cite news |last1=Tynan |first1=Maol Muire |title=Seanad nomination gives FF problems |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/seanad-nomination-gives-ff-problems-1.154884 |access-date=7 November 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=21 May 1998 |page=6 |language=en}}

}} but in the event John Cregan was nominated and won the seat.{{multiref|

{{cite news |last1=Tynan |first1=Maol Muire |title=FF's nominee seems likely to win Seanad seat |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ff-s-nominee-seems-likely-to-win-seanad-seat-1.157051 |access-date=7 November 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=27 May 1998 |page=6 |language=en}}|

{{cite web |title=Election of Member |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1998-06-23/2/ |website=Seanad Éireann (21st Seanad) debates |publisher=Houses of the Oireachtas |access-date=7 November 2021 |language=en-ie |date=23 June 1998}}

}}

Seanad standing orders make no distinction between senators elected from a panel and other senators, or among different panels.{{cite web |title=Standing Orders relative to Public Business |url=https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/parliamentaryBusiness/standingOrders/seanad/2017/2017-09-29_seanad-eireann-standing-orders-relative-to-public-business-2017_en.pdf |publisher=Seanad Éireann |access-date=3 April 2020 |date=2017 |archive-date=2020-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002132009/https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/parliamentaryBusiness/standingOrders/seanad/2017/2017-09-29_seanad-eireann-standing-orders-relative-to-public-business-2017_en.pdf |url-status=live }} For example, of the four senators on the Oireachtas joint committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2017, only one had been elected from the Agricultural Panel; two were from other panels, while the fourth was a Taoiseach's appointee.{{cite press release |title=Agriculture Committee to discuss tillage and malt industries |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/press-centre/press-releases/20171016-agriculture-committee-to-discuss-tillage-and-malt-industries/ |website=www.oireachtas.ie |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=3 April 2020 |language=en-ie |date=16 October 2017 |archive-date=31 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031154200/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/press-centre/press-releases/20171016-agriculture-committee-to-discuss-tillage-and-malt-industries/ |url-status=live }}; {{cite web |title=Names Of The Members Nominated And Of The Members Elected |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2016-06-08/5/ |website=Seanad Éireann (25th Seanad) debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=3 April 2020 |language=en-ie |date=8 June 2016 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023044810/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2016-06-08/5/ |url-status=live }} John Counihan in 1942 tried unsuccessfully to organise a meeting of Agricultural Panel senators, which Basil Chubb noted as a unique event.{{multiref|Chubb 1954 p. 109, citing|{{cite web |last1=Counihan |first1=John |title=Election of Panel Members — Motion to appoint Select Committee |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/ga/debates/debate/seanad/1942-07-15/6/#para_59 |website=Seanad Éireann (3rd Seanad) debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=9 November 2021 |date=15 July 1942}}}} While outgoing senators seeking re-election keep to the same panel as a rule, there are exceptions; Andy O'Brien, Peter Lynch and Joe O'Reilly were each returned from three different panels in their careers. The fact that the electorate is composed mainly of officials elected in party-political elections means the candidates they favour are also party-political rather than vocationally oriented.{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Mary C. |editor1-last=Gallagher |editor1-first=Michael |editor2-last=Marsh |editor2-first=Michael |title=How Ireland Voted 2016: The Election that Nobody Won |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=9783319408880 |pages=227–253 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKVlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 |chapter=The Seanad Election: Second Chamber, Second Chance |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-40889-7_10 |access-date=2020-04-05 |archive-date=2021-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923095238/https://books.google.com/books?id=DKVlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 |url-status=live }} Since the 2008 recession there has been an increased proportion of independent politicians elected at local and Dáil elections, which in turn has led to some independent senators returned from the panel elections since 2014; some but not all of these have a greater focus on the functional areas of their panel. Prior to this, only a handful of independent vocational senators were elected under the 1947 act, the most recent being Seán Brosnahan of the INTO on the Labour Panel in 1973.{{cite news |last1=Weeks |first1=Liam |title=Electing Seanad Independents |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/electing-seanad-independents-1.567425 |access-date=6 April 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=9 March 2011 |language=en |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923095252/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/electing-seanad-independents-1.567425 |url-status=live }}

The vocational aspect of the Seanad's constitution was a reflection of the influence of corporatism on Catholic social teaching of the 1930s, as outlined in the encyclical Quadragesimo anno.{{#tag:ref|Basil Chubb points out that the corporatist idea was already undermined by the separation of "Labour" from "Industry and Commerce" and "Administration", dividing by social class rather than economic sector.Chubb 2014 p.197 "the composition of the panels, with labour separated from management, seemed actually to go contrary to those very [vocational] principles" |group="n"}} This teaching influenced Éamon de Valera's thinking during the drafting of the 1937 Constitution.{{cite book |first1=Martin |last1=O'Donoghue |title=Reforming Senates: Upper Legislative Houses in North Atlantic Small Powers 1800–present |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |series=Routledge Studies in Modern History |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2fS2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT212 |isbn=9780367339685 |pages=204–214 |chapter=Vocational voices or puppets of the Lower House? Irish senators, 1938–1948. |doi=10.4324/9780429323119-18 |editor1-first=Nikolaj |editor1-last=Bijleveld |editor2-first=Colin |editor2-last=Grittner |editor3-first=David E. |editor3-last=Smith |editor4-first=Wybren |editor4-last=Verstegen |access-date=2020-04-05 |archive-date=2021-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923095258/https://books.google.com/books?id=2fS2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT212 |url-status=live }} Article 45 and 56 of the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State had made provision for delegating power to "Functional or Vocational Councils representing branches of the social and economic life of the Nation", which was never utilised.{{cite web |title=Extension of Vocational Organisation |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1938-07-13/4/ |website=Seanad Éireann (2nd Seanad) debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=10 April 2020 |language=en-ie |date=13 July 1938 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022102057/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1938-07-13/4/ |url-status=live }} The place of the Seanad in the new constitution was first discussed by a 1936 commission, which produced a majority and minority report, with dissenters from both.

De Valera's 1937 Seanad took more from the minority report. Echoing Articles 45 and 56 of the 1922 constitution, Article 15.3.1° of the 1937 constitution permits "the establishment or recognition of functional or vocational councils representing branches of the social and economic life of the people" while Article 19 permits senators to be elected by a "functional or vocational group or association or council" instead of by a panel. The Article 18 panel mechanism was envisaged as a temporary measure until such time as Irish society and economic life would be structured on more corporatist lines and Article 19 could be applied instead. With this goal in mind a Commission on Vocational Organisation, chaired by bishop Michael Browne, was established in 1939. Its 1944 report paid little attention to Article 19, suggesting instead more radical constitutional changes, and was practically ignored by the government.

{{cite book|last=Lee |first=Joseph J. |chapter=Aspects of Corporatist Thought in Ireland: The Commission on Vocational Organisation, 1939–43. |editor1-last=Cosgrove |editor1-first=Art |editor2-first=Donal |editor2-last=McCartney |title=Studies in Irish History: Presented to R. Dudley Edwards |pages=324–46 |location=Dublin |year=1979 |isbn=0901120618 |oclc=464504344 |publisher=University College Dublin }};

{{cite journal |title=Report of Commission on Vocational Organisation (and it's Times, 1930-'40's) |first=John |last=Swift |journal=Saothar |volume=1 |number=1 |date=1 May 1975 |pages=54–63 |publisher=Irish Labour History Society |jstor=23194163 }}

Surveys of the constitution have suggested Article 19 is now redundant.{{cite book |last1=Casey |first1=J. P. [James P. ] |title=Constitutional law in Ireland |date=1987 |publisher=Sweet & Maxwell |location=London |page=106 |url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionalla00case/page/106 |url-access=registration |access-date=12 April 2020}}; {{cite book |author1=Constitution Review Group |author-link=Constitution Review Group |isbn=9780707624402 |url=http://www.constitution.ie/reports/crg.pdf#page=63 |page=Seanad Éireann; Other issues; 8: A redundant article? |no-pp=y |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721123125/http://www.constitution.ie/reports/crg.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2011 |title=Report of the Constitution Review Group |date=1996 |publisher=Stationery Office}}

The original electoral method differed in several ways from that used since 1947:{{cite web |last1=Byrne |first1=Elaine |title=Past Reforms and Present Policy: examining the Seanad Electoral(Panel Members) Act, 1947 |url=http://historyhub.ie/past-reforms-present-policy |website=History Hub |publisher=University College Dublin |access-date=31 March 2020 |date=2013 |archive-date=13 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213121108/http://historyhub.ie/past-reforms-present-policy |url-status=live }}

• Outgoing senators did not participate in voting or nominating. (Hence the inside panel was called the "Dáil subpanel" rather than the "Oireachtas subpanel".)
• Instead of all county councillors voting directly for the panel, each council elected seven of its members to the electoral college.{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1937/act/43/section/37/enacted/en/html#sec37 |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937 s.37 |access-date=2020-03-31 |archive-date=2017-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130033902/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1937/act/43/section/37/enacted/en/html#sec37 |url-status=live }}
• There was a single STV ballot paper listing all candidates for all panels in order of surname.{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1937/act/43/section/40/enacted/en/html#sec40 |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937 s.40(1) |access-date=2020-03-31 |archive-date=2020-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022233552/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1937/act/43/section/40/enacted/en/html#sec40 |url-status=live }} The requirement for specific numbers of winners from each of five panels (and ten subpanels) was preserved, greatly complicating the task for voters filling in the large ballot, and for eliminating candidates during the STV count process.
• The number of nominating bodies per panel was limited, and the registration appeals committee was composed entirely of TDs. The Labour Party boycotted the April 1938 Seanad election in protest that the Cottage Tenants and Rural Workers Association, a small group based in Ballingarry, County Limerick, had the same status as the ICTU on the Labour Panel.
• For casual vacancies in the nominating bodies subpanel, the bodies formed a committee which elected a shortlist of three candidates by multiple non-transferable vote; from these three a winner was selected by the Taoiseach.Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) (Bye-Elections) Act 1940, Part II
• the duties of returning officer at panel elections and registrar of panel nominating bodies were performed by a departmental civil servant{{#tag:ref|Wilfred Brown of the Department of Local Government.{{cite book |last1=Garvin |first1=Tom |title=The Irish Senate |date=1969 |publisher=Institute of Public Administration |page=28 |language=en}}|group="n"}} rather than the clerk of the Seanad.

For the April 1938 Seanad election, there were only 330 voters (24 of the 354 electors boycotted) which in a 43-seat ballot gave a quota of just eight votes to be elected. There were rumours of vote buying after the first three Seanad election and finally two convictions after the 1944 Seanad election. The Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937 was therefore repealed and replaced by the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, which is still in force with minor amendments. It increased the size of the electoral college, split the panels into separate ballots, and increased the security procedures around postal voting. Martin O'Donoghue argues that senators before the 1947 act often showed a genuine vocational orientation, but this was undermined by the corruption allegations.

Until the Local Government Act 2001, the Minister for Local Government had the power to dissolve local councils.{{cite web |title=Local Government Act 1941 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1941/act/23/enacted/en/print#partiv |website=Irish Statute Book |access-date=10 April 2020 |page=Part IV |no-pp=y |language=en |archive-date=7 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207080620/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1941/act/23/enacted/en/print#partiv |url-status=live }}

• replaced {{cite web |title=Local Government Act 1925, s.72 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1925/en/act/pub/0005/sec0072.html#sec72 |website=Irish Statute Book |access-date=10 April 2020 |language=en |archive-date=5 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305162801/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1925/en/act/pub/0005/sec0072.html#sec72 |url-status=live }}
• repealed by {{cite web |title=Local Government Act 2001, s.5(1) and Schedule 3 Part 1 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2001/act/37/schedule/3/enacted/en/html |website=Irish Statute Book |access-date=10 April 2020 |language=en |archive-date=18 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118001123/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2001/act/37/schedule/3/enacted/en/html |url-status=live }} Where a county or county borough's council was dissolved, its members retained the right to vote in Seanad panel elections.{{cite web |title=Questions; Oral Answers; Dissolution of Dublin Corporation |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1969-05-01/11/ |website=Dáil Éireann (18th Dáil) debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=10 April 2020 |language=en-ie |date=1 May 1969 |archive-date=21 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021100508/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1969-05-01/11/ |url-status=live }} This last applied at the 1973 Seanad election, to surviving members of Dublin Corporation at its 1969 dissolution.{{cite book |last1=Potter |first1=Matthew |title=The Municipal Revolution in Ireland: A Handbook of Urban Government in Ireland Since 1800 |date=2011 |publisher=Irish Academic Press |isbn=978-0-7165-3082-4 |page=304 |language=en}} The Local Government Reform Act 2014 changed the number of councillors on each city and county council, to be somewhat more aligned with each area's population. The 2016 Seanad election reflected this demographic shift in the panel electorate with an increase in the number returned from more populous urbanised areas at the expense of more rural areas.{{cite web |last1=Kavanagh |first1=Adrian |title=Seanad Elections 2016 – A Final Overview |url=https://adriankavanaghelections.org/2016/04/28/seanad-elections-2016-a-final-overview/ |website=Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses |access-date=6 April 2020 |language=en |date=28 April 2016 |archive-date=8 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408041650/https://adriankavanaghelections.org/2016/04/28/seanad-elections-2016-a-final-overview/ |url-status=live }}

Seanad reform proposals may be divided into those requiring amending the Constitution of Ireland via referendum, and those limited to amendment of statute law within the existing constitutional parameters. Those in the former group typically suggest abolishing the vocational aspect of the Seanad as ineffectual and based on outdated political thinking.Coakley 2011 p.243 "These three reports acknowledged the impossibility of giving effect to any meaningful form of vocational representation" Proposals in the latter group typically suggest altering the nomination process and the franchise. The 1958–59 Seanad Electoral Law Commission proposed changing the electorate for the outside subpanel from elected representatives to the nominating bodies.Coakley 2011 p.261 fn.8; {{cite book |last1=Maltby |first1=Arthur |last2=McKenna |first2=Brian |title=Irish Official Publications: A Guide to Republic of Ireland Papers, with a Breviate of Reports 1922–1972 |date=2013 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-1-4831-8882-9 |pages=37–38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MnWLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |access-date=8 April 2020 |language=en |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923095258/https://books.google.com/books?id=MnWLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |url-status=live }}; {{cite web |title=Seanad Electoral Law Commission: Implementation of Recommendations |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1960-02-17/6/ |website=Seanad Éireann (9th Seanad) debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=8 April 2020 |language=en-ie |date=17 February 1960 |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923095257/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1960-02-17/6/ |url-status=live }} Opponents of such a change have suggested that, rather than replacing party politics with vocationalism in the Seanad, it would instead politicise the nominating bodies.{{cite journal |last1=Russell |first1=Meg |title=A Vocational Upper House?: Lessons from Ireland |journal=Constitution Unit Publications |date=1999 |issue=36 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/32534/ |access-date=10 April 2020 |publisher=School of Public Policy, UCL |location=London |archive-date=30 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630104434/https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/32534/ |url-status=live }} The 2015 Manning report recommended that "the concept of vocational representation be retained but modernised", with 13 panel senators still elected on the current limited franchise, and the other 30 popularly elected.Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.17 Annex 2 (ii, vi, vii) The 2018 report of the Seanad Reform Implementation Group was based on the Manning report but altered these numbers to 15 and 28.Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.8 §5.10 In both reports, all citizens over 18 could register either for one of the five nominating bodies subpanels or (if a graduate) for the university constituency, but not both.Seanad Reform Implementation Group 2018 p.17 Annex 2(ii) & Appendix [Seanad Bill 2018] p.57 §51(1)

• 1969 French constitutional referendum — rejected proposal to merge the Economic, Social and Environmental Council into the Senate
• Functional constituency — in Hong Kong and Macao

{{Reflist|group="n"}}

;Primary:

• Irish Statute Book:
• {{cite web |title=Constitution of Ireland |pages=Articles 18–19 |no-pp=y |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article18 |access-date=31 March 2020 |language=en}}
• {{cite web |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1937 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1937/act/43/enacted/en/index.html |access-date=8 April 2020 |language=en}}
• {{cite web |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) (Bye-Elections) Act 1940 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1940/act/20/enacted/en/index.html |access-date=8 April 2020 |language=en}}
• {{cite web |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1947/act/42/enacted/en/index.html |access-date=31 March 2020 |language=en}}
• {{cite web |title=Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1954 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1954/act/1/enacted/en/html |access-date=31 March 2020 |language=en}}
• {{cite journal |last=Groves |first=Martin |title=Panels of candidates prepared by the Seanad Returning Officer pursuant to Section 43 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, as amended by the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1954 |url=https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/electoralProcess/electoralRoll/seanad/2020/2020-03-10_seanad-general-election-2020-panels-of-candidates_en.pdf |journal=Iris Oifigiúil |number=20A |access-date=8 April 2020 |date=10 March 2020}}

;Secondary:

• {{cite journal |last1=Chubb |first1=Basil |title=Vocational Representation and the Irish Senate |journal=Political Studies |date=1 June 1954 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=97–111 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9248.1954.tb01017.x |s2cid=144226531 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_political-studies_1954-06_2_2/page/n2 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book |last1=Chubb |first1=Basil |author-link=Basil Chubb |title=The Government and Politics of Ireland |date=2014 |edition=3rd |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-89645-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXDXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |orig-year=1992 |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Coakley |first1=John |editor1-last=Penniman |editor1-first=Howard Rae |editor2-last=Farrell |editor2-first=Brian |title=Ireland at the Polls, 1981, 1982, and 1987: A Study of Four General Elections |date=1987 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-0786-0 |pages=192–205 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PaS-PdCzF_4C&pg=PA192 |access-date=7 April 2020 |language=en |chapter=The Senate Elections}}
• {{cite book |last1=Coakley |first1=John |last2=Manning |first2=Maurice |editor-last1=Marsh |editor-first1=Michael |title=How Ireland Voted 1997 |chapter=The Senate Elections |date=1999 |publisher=Westview |location=Oxford |series=Studies in Irish Politics |isbn=978-0-8133-3217-8 |pages=195–214 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/howirelandvoted10000unse/page/195 |access-date=12 April 2020 |via=Internet Archive |chapter-url-access=registration |language=en}}
• {{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.nui.ie/elections/referendum/docs/ck1y_arCl3.pdf |chapter=The Final Seanad Election? |first=John |last=Coakley |editor1-last=Gallagher |editor1-first=Michael |editor2-last=Marsh |editor2-first=Michael |title=How Ireland Voted 2011: The Full Story of Ireland's Earthquake Election |date=2011 |pages=240–263 |isbn=978-0-230-34881-3 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |access-date=6 April 2020 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Coakley |first1=John |title=Reforming political institutions : Ireland in comparative perspective |date=2013 |publisher=Institute of Public Administration |location=Dublin |isbn=978-1-904541-33-2 |pages=90–136 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/reformingpolitic0000coak/page/90 |chapter=Seanad: Reform or Redundancy? |via=Internet Archive |chapter-url-access=registration }}
• {{cite book |last1=Gallagher |first1=Michael |last2=Weeks |first2=Liam |editor1-last=Gallagher |editor1-first=Michael |editor2-last=Marsh |editor2-first=Michael |editor3-last=Mitchell |editor3-first=Paul |doi=10.1057/9780230379046_10 |title=How Ireland voted 2002 |date=2003 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=9780230379046 |pages=197–213 |chapter=The Subterranean Election of the Seanad |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F019DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |access-date=12 April 2020}}
• {{cite book |last1=O'Leary |first1=Don |title=Vocationalism and Social Catholicism in Twentieth-century Ireland: The Search for a Christian Social Order |date=2000 |publisher=Irish Academic Press |isbn=978-0-7165-2667-4 |language=en}}
• {{cite book |author1=Seanad Reform Implementation Group |title=Report of the Seanad Reform Implementation Group |date=December 2018 |url=https://assets.gov.ie/5245/211218143426-25949b1b57ce47d5aff3eb83402fb99e.pdf |access-date=6 April 2020 }}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/publications/?author=seanad-eireann&topic%5B0%5D=election-results&topic%5B1%5D=elections Seanad election details since 2002], Oireachtas website

{{Seanad Éireann}}

Category:Seanad constituencies

Category:Corporatism

Category:Local authorities in the Republic of Ireland