Two by-elections were held for vacancies in Seanad Éireann on Wednesday, 21 April 2021. The vacancies were caused by the resignations of Fine Gael's

Michael W. D'Arcy Michael William D'Arcy (born 26 February 1970) is the current chief executive of the Irish Association of Investment Management. He is a former Irish Fine Gael politician who was elected to the Seanad for the Agricultural Panel in April 2020. ...

from the Agricultural Panel in September 2020 to become chief executive of the Irish Association of Institute Management; and of Sinn Féin's

Elisha McCallion Elisha McCallion (; born 21 October 1982) is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician who served as a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from April 2020 until October 2020. She previously served as Mayor of Derry from 2015 to 2016, a M ...

from the

Industrial and Commercial Panel The Industrial and Commercial Panel ( ga, An Rolla Tionscail Agus Tráchtála) is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Ind ...

in October 2020 due to a COVID-19 grants controversy. Fine Gael's Maria Byrne was elected to the Agricultural Panel, and Fianna Fáil's Gerry Horkan to the

. Both were elected on the first count.

Electoral system

In vacancies in the Vocational panels, the electorate in by-elections consists of

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

members only, which will consist of 160 TDs and 58 Senators. To be nominated, a candidate must have the signature of nine TDs and/or Senators. Ballot papers were issued on 7 April and the polls closed at 11 am on 21 April. All votes were cast by postal ballot, and were 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. Ballots are initially given a value of 1,000 to allow calculation of quotas (

Droop quota The Droop quota is the quota most commonly used in elections held under the single transferable vote (STV) system. It is also sometimes used in elections held under the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation (list PR). ...

) where all ballots are distributed in the case of a surplus.

Process and dates

resigned on 30 September 2020, with a notice of the vacancy sent to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage on 1 December.

resigned on 5 November 2020, with a notice of the vacancy sent to the minister on 1 February 2021. The minister is required to make a Seanad bye-election order within 180 days after receiving a notice of a vacancy. On 3 March 2021, Minister Darragh O'Brien made an order for the by-election in which set the following dates: * 23 March 2021: close of receiving nominations; * 30 March 2021: ruling on nominations; * 7 April 2021: issuing of ballot papers; * 21 April 2021, at 11 a.m.: close of poll.

Campaign

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ran one candidate each in different panels, and had a voting pact to back each other's candidates. Sinn Féin did not run any candidates but backed independent Unionist Ian Marshall on the Agricultural Panel and

Billy Lawless Billy Lawless (born 4 July 1951) is an Irish former Independent politician and businessman who served as a Senator from 2016 to 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. Lawless is a native of Rahoon, County Galway. In the 1980s, he was Chair ...

on the Industrial and Commercial Panel. The Social Democrats also supported Ian Marshall on the Agricultural Panel. In early March 2021, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

executive council, as well as the majority of their TDs and Senators, agreed not to run candidates for the Seanad by-election, but to leave each of the larger two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, to run one candidate each, in line with an informal agreement between the three government parties. However, on 22 March 2021,

Hazel Chu Hazel Chu (born 3 November 1980) is an Irish Green Party politician who has been a member of Dublin City Council since May 2019. She was elected Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) of the Irish Green Party in December 2019, and was succeeded by Senator ...

announced her intention to run as an independent candidate. As a result, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan indicated that he would not vote for her on this occasion, and further that Chu's role as party chairperson might be discussed internally.

Results

Agricultural Panel

Industrial and Commercial Panel

;Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Seanad By-Election, 2021 By-election 2021 Ireland Seanad April 2021 events in Ireland Seanad, 2021