RUTH COPPINGER HAS announced she will contest the upcoming Seanad election after losing her Dáil seat in last Saturday’s general election.

The former Solidarity-People Before Profit TD was defeated on the sixth count in Dublin West.

First elected to the Dáil in a by-election in 2014, Coppinger had been a fierce critic of the government and an advocate for women’s and workers’ rights.

Coppinger officially launched her Seanad bid in Dublin city this morning. She will be a candidate for the National University of Ireland constituency.

Speaking after lodging her registration papers, Coppinger said: “My aim is to use the national platform [the Seanad] provides to advance the unfinished business of workers’ and women’s rights in particular, as well as the need for radical action on the housing crisis and climate change.”

A number of former TDs who lost their sets in the election are expected to launch Seanad bids.

Former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock has already announced his intention to run in the Seanad election. He was eliminated on the fifth count in Dublin North-West, where he had been elected in 2016, last weekend.

The Green Party’s Saoirse McHugh, who missed out on securing a Dáil seat in Mayo, also plans to run for the Seanad.

Some high-profile senators have also announced their reelection bids including Lynn Ruane, Ivana Bacik and Alice-Mary Higgins.