LAST UPDATE | 30 Jan 2025

GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE Hazel Chu has requested a full recount in Trinity College’s Seanad constituency.

Polls for the vocational panels in the Seanad elections closed and counting got underway this morning at Leinster House. It is the second day of the count after polls for the university panels closed yesterday.

Senators and would-be senators have been canvassing TDs, councillors and graduates from the National University of Ireland and Trinity College of Dublin since early December to earn one of the 49 seats up for grabs.

Elected TDs, councillors and outgoing senators vote for candidates to fill 43 seats on five vocational panels. Ballots were cast at Leinster House, in the Members’ Restaurant, for the last month and polls closed this morning.

After the 15th count for the Trinity College constituency this evening, the distribution of Hugo MacNeill’s votes put independent candidate Aubrey McCarthy on 3747 and Hazel Chu on 3710. 

The request for a recount will be reviewed tomorrow at 9.30am.

Ballots being sorted in Leinster House earlier today. Jane Matthews Jane Matthews

It is the third and final seat on the Trinity College panel. Earlier today, Independent senators Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan retained their seats on the panel.

Ruane was reelected on the 11th count, followed by Tom Clonan on the 13th count. 

Meanwhile, all three incumbent senators on the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel were re-elected. 

Michael McDowell become the first candidate to be elected to the new Seanad just before midnight last night, followed by Rónán Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins. All three are independents.

All seats are set to be filled by Monday or Tuesday, depending on the length of the count.

Following the elections, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin will get the opportunity to appoint 11 senators to the upper house. This is done to ensure that the government has a majority in the Dáil and the Seanad.

Depending on the outcome of the election, Martin may choose to appoint someone outside of both coalition parties. Previous Taoisigh have chosen to appoint people from groups not adequately represented in the Oireachtas.

Vocational panels

The five vocational panels are being counted consecutively in Leinster House, beginning with the Cultural and Educational panel.

Only one senator has been elected so far. Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully reached the quota of 190,834 votes on the sixth count.

It is expected that the full results of this panel will be returned tomorrow and then counting will begin on the other panels. 

Counting will continue through the weekend and the full results of the vocational panels are expected to be returned on Monday. 

Includes reporting from Jane Matthews