The 15th Seanad was in office from 1981 to 1982. An election to

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

, the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the

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 and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

(Irish parliament), followed the 1981 general election to the

22nd Dáil The 22nd Dáil was elected at the 1981 Irish general election, 1981 general election on 11 June 1981 and met on 30 June 1981. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature), of Republic of Ireland, I ...

. The senators served until the close of poll for the

16th Seanad The 16th Seanad was in office from 1982 to 1983. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the February 1982 general election to the 23rd Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the ...

Cathaoirleach

On 8 October 1981, Charles McDonald ( FG) was proposed as

Cathaoirleach Cathaoirleach (; Irish language, Irish for Chair (officer), chairperson; plural: ) is the title of the chair (or speaker (politics), presiding officer) of Seanad Éireann, the sixty-member upper house of the Oireachtas, the legislature of Repub ...

Gemma Hussey Gemma Hussey (; 11 November 1938 – 26 November 2024) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Social Welfare from 1986 to 1987, Minister for Labour from January 1987 to March 1987, Minister for Education from 1982 to 19 ...

(FG) and seconded by Michael Ferris ( Lab). He was elected without a division. On 9 October 1981, Séamus Dolan ( FF) was proposed as Leas-Chathaoirleach by Eoin Ryan (FF) and seconded by William Ryan (FF). He was elected without a division.

Composition of the 15th Seanad

There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 were elected on five

vocational panel A vocational panel () is any of five lists of candidates from which are elected a total of 43 of the 60 senators in Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of Ireland. Each panel corresponds to a grouping of "interests and ...

s, 6 were elected from two

university constituencies A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters ar ...

and 11 were

nominated by the Taoiseach A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...

. The following table shows the composition by party when the 15th Seanad first met on 8 October 1981.

Cathaoirleach

Composition of the 15th Seanad

List of senators

Changes

References

External links