Final Seanad seats filled after marathon counting process

By David Young and Jonathan McCambridge, PA

The final elected seats to the Seanad have been filled following a marathon counting process.

Independent Eileen Flynn, Sinn Féin’s Nicole Ryan and Fianna Fáil candidates  Fiona O’Loughlin and Diarmuid Wilson won four Seanad seats as the counting of votes in the vocational s completed.

Earlier on Monday, Fianna Fáil’s Mark Daly and Garret Ahearn and Martin Conway of Fine Gael were re-elected to the istrative , where there are seven seats in total.

The nine seats on the industrial and commercial vocational were filled in a count which concluded in the early hours.

Sinn Fáin’s Conor Murphy, a veteran of Stormont, has said he will use his switch from Stormont to the Oireachtas to advance his party’s push for Irish unification.

The other seats on the were taken by Fianna Fáil’s Aidan Davitt, Mary Fitzpatrick and Ollie Crowe, Fine Gael’s Garrett Kelleher and Linda Nelson Murray, Labour’s Laura Harmon and Independents Sharon Keogan and s Black.

Former Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell was among the candidates who missed out on a seat on the .

The make-up of three other vocational s have already been confirmed.

The 11 seats available on both the agricultural and the labour and the five on the cultural and educational have all been filled.

A total of 111 candidates stood for the 43 seats available on the vocational s.

The five seats on the cultural and educational were taken by Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully, Fine Gael’s Cathal Byrne and Sean Kyne, Fianna Fáil’s Shane Curley and Independent Joe Conway.

Outgoing Fianna Fáil senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee missed out on re-election to the while former Fianna Fáil TD Joe Flaherty also failed to get elected.

On the agricultural , four Fine Gael candidates secured seats – Eileen Lynch, Paraic Brady, Maria Byrne and PJ Murphy.

Fianna Fáil candidates Paul Daly, Niall Blaney and Teresa Costello also won seats, as did former Green Party TD and minister of state Malcolm Noonan, Sinn Fein’s Joanne Collins, Aontu’s Sarah O’Reilly and Independent Victor Boyhan.

On the labour , former Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews won a seat, as did his party colleague Maria McCormack. The other nine seats were taken by Fianna Fáil’s Robbie Gallagher, Margaret Murphy O’Mahony and Pat Casey, Fine Gael’s Mark Duffy, Mike Kennelly and Joe O’Reilly, Labour’s Nessa Cosgrove, Patricia Stephenson of the Social Democrats and independent Gerard Craughwell.

Former Fianna Fáil junior government minister Anne Rabbitte, who lost her Dáil seat in the general election, missed out on a seat on the labour .

Counting for the six seats on the Seanad’s two university constituencies has already been completed.

The three seats in the Trinity/Dublin University constituency were taken by returning independent senators Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan, along with another independent Aubrey McCarthy

Former children’s minister Katherine Zappone was among the well-known candidates to miss out.

On the National University of Ireland (NUI) , incumbent independents Michael McDowell, Ronan Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins were all re-elected.

The vast majority of the public do not have a vote in the Seanad.

The Dáil’s TDs, outgoing senators and local authority councillors make up the electorate for the five vocational s.

Graduates of NUI institutions and Trinity College Dublin vote for the six seats on the two university s.

The final 11 Seanad seats are appointed by Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

Senators debate legislation put forward by the Government.

They can amend Bills and propose their own Bills but cannot prevent one from becoming law.