FORMER TDS ANNE Rabbitte, Joe Flaherty, and Alan Farrell have been appointed to the Seanad by the Taoiseach following their unsuccessful bids to return to the Dáil.

The three will be filling the seats left vacant by Emer Currie (Fine Gael), Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fáil), and Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fáil). Currie, McGreehan, and Dooley were all elected to the Dáil in the general election. 

Rabbitte, a Fianna Fáil TD who served as Minister of State with Special Responsibility for Disabilities, lost her seat in a shock result in Galway East. 

Her party colleague Joe Flaherty was previously a TD for Longford-Westmeath. Prior to his election in 2020, he was a councillor on Longford County Council between 2018 and 2020.

Alan Farrell, the chairperson of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, lost his seat running in the new Dublin Fingal East constituency – created by boundary changes last year. He has been a TD since 2011 – first in the Dublin North constituency (2011 – 2016) and then in Dublin Fingal. He was eliminated on the eleventh count. 

A spokesperson for the Taoiseach said: “As part of an agreement between the leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the three vacant seats have been filled until the next Seanad elections in accordance with Article 18.10.2 of the constitution. Alan Farrell will replace Emer Currie and Joe Flaherty and Anne Rabbitte will replace Erin McGreehan and Timmy Dooley.”

The three will hold the seats in the Seanad until the Seanad elections, which are to take place within 90 days of the dissolution of the Dáil – which occurred on 8 November when Taoiseach Simon Harris took to Áras an Uachtaráin to declare a general election.