Adrian Kavanagh, 17th February 2020

Elsewhere on this site, I have compiled a list of the candidates for the 2020 Dáil elections, but this post lists the officially nominated candidates for the 2020 Seanad elections. The closing date for candidate nominations (14th February 2020) has now past (and we do have a final list of candidates) for the University (NUI, Trinity) constituencies, as well as a final list of candidates nominated by the “Outside Panels” for the Vocational Panel contests and now (as of 2nd March 2020) the Oireachtas/Inside Panels.

147 candidates are listed here, as contesting these elections.

46 (31.3%) of these are female and 101 (68.7%) of these are male.

147 candidates are listed here, as of now. 46 (31.3%) of these are female and 101 (68.7%) of these are male. Of the candidates listed here, 34 (23.1%) are outgoing Senators and 44 (29.9%) are City/County Councillors. 24 (16.3%) candidates are former TDs, including some who lost their seats at the February 2020 Dáil election, but also including other former TDs who lost their seats at earlier Dáil elections (and may have chosen not to contest the 2020 Dáil election, or may have failed to be selected by their political parties). Some of the members of this former TDs grouping are currently City/County Councillors or Senators. 47 (32.0%) of the candidates listed here – including some of the former TDs grouping – unsuccessfully contested the February 2020 Dáil election.

The list of candidates contesting the five vocational panel elections – Adminstrative, Agricultural, Cultural and Educational, Industrial and Commercial, Labour – are divided into two sub-panels – an Outside sub-panel and an Inside sub-panel. Candidates on the Outside sub-panels have been nominated by an official external nominating body – e.g. Conradh na Gaeilge and the National Youth Council of Ireland for the Cultural and Educational panel.  Candidates on the Inside sub-panels have been nominated by their own political parties and/or a number (minimum of four) of Oireachtas members. 

Current/former politicians account for a much larger proportion/percentage of the 118 candidates, who will be contesting the five vocational panel elections. 36 (30.5% of the total number) female candidates and 82 (69.5%) male candidates are contesting these vocal panel elections. 46 (39.0%) of the candidates contesting these vocational panels – including some of the former TDs grouping – unsuccessfully contested the February 2020 Dáil election. Of the candidates listed here as contesting the vocational panel elections, 28 (23.7%) are outgoing Senators and 41 (34.7%) are City/County Councillors, while 22 (18.6%) candidates are former TDs. 74 (62.7%) candidates have been nominated by different official external nominating bodies (the “Outside” sub-panels) and 44 (37.4%) candidates have been nominated by members of the Oireachtas (the “Inside” sub-panels).

Administrative Panel (7 seats) – 19 candidates (10 “Outside”, 9 “Inside”) Minimum of 3 to be elected from both the Outside and Inside Sub-Panels

• Martin Conway FG (Outside)
• Diarmuid Wilson FF (Inside)
• Mark Daly FF (Outside)
• Mick Cahill FF (Outside)
• John Dolan IND (Outside)
• Joe Malone FF (Outside)
• Salome Mbugua Henry IND (Outside)
• Anne Marie Flanagan IND (Outside)
• Tony Geoghegan IND (Outside)
• John Bosco Conama IND (Outside)
• Fiona O’Loughlin FF (Outside)
• Thomas J Welby IND (Inside)
• Emer Currie FG (Inside)
• Noel Rock FG (Inside)
• Garret Ahearn FG (Inside)
• Rebecca Moynihan LAB (Inside)
• Niall Ó Donnghaile SF (Inside)
• Lorraine Clifford-Lee FF (Inside)
• Timothy J Hogan IND (Inside)

Agricultural Panel (11 seats) – 25 candidates (16 “Outside”, 9 “Inside”) Minimum of 4 to be elected from both the Outside and Inside Sub-Panels

• Brian Ó Domhnaill IND (Outside)
• Denis O’Donovan FF (Outside)
• Victor Boyhan IND (Inside)
• Tim Lombard FG (Outside)
• Ian Marshall IND (Outside)
• Paul Daly FF (Outside)
• Thomas McEllistrim FF (Outside)
• Niall Blaney FF (Outside)
• Dominic Hannigan LAB (Outside)
• Maria Byrne FG (Outside)
• Kevin O’Keeffe FF (Outside)
• Seamus Coyle FF (Outside)
• Shane P. O’Reilly FF (Outside)
• Paddy Burke FG (Outside)
• Richard Mulcahy IND (Outside)
• Dermot Cantillon IND (Outside)
• Pat Deering FG (Outside)
• Aisling Dolan FG (Inside)
• Michael D’Arcy FG (Inside)
• Annie Hoey LAB (Inside)
• Lynn Boylan SF (Inside)
• Gerry Murray SF (Inside)
• Eugene Murphy FF (Inside)
• Pippa Hackett GP (Inside)
• Patrick Kent IND (Inside)

Cllr. Paul Hayes (Sinn Féin) was on the initial list of nominated candidates, but was subsequently excluded from this “because of insufficient qualifications” (Marie O’Halloran – Irish Times (10th March 2020)).

Cultural and Educational Panel (5 seats) – 20 candidates (13 “Outside”, 7 “Inside”) Minimum of 2 to be elected from both the Outside and Inside Sub-Panels

• Margaret Murphy O’Mahony FF (Inside)
• Éamonn Walsh IND (Outside)
• Shane Curley FF (Outside)
• Fintan Warfield SF (Outside)
• Jack Mulcahy IND (Outside)
• Malcolm Byrne FF (Outside)
• Michael “Moegie” Maher FG (Outside)
• Gabrielle McFadden FG (Outside)
• Mary Newman Julian FG (Outside)
• Deirdre Conroy FF (Outside)
• Joe Conway IND (Outside)
• Kate Feeney FF (Outside)
• Seán Kyne FG (Outside)
• Angela Flynn IND (Outside)
• John McGahon FG (Inside)
• Tom Neville FG (Inside)
• Lisa Chambers FF (Inside)
• Declan Breathnach FF (Inside)
• Paul Lawless AON (Inside)
• Saoirse McHugh GP (Inside)

Industrial and Commercial Panel (9 seats) – 34 candidates (24 “Outside”, 10 “Inside”) Minimum of 3 to be elected from both the Outside and Inside Sub-Panels

• Aidan Davitt FF (Outside)
• Joseph Corr IND (Outside)
• Pat Hynes IND (Outside)
• Catherine Noone FG (Outside)
• Áine Collins FG (Outside)
• Garret Kelleher FG (Outside)
• Barry Ward FG (Outside)
• Michael Anthony Vaughan IND (Outside)
• Tom MacSharry FF (Outside)
• Frances Black IND (Inside)
• Arthur Griffin FF (Outside)
• James Geoghegan FG (Outside)
• Gerry Horkan FF (Outside)
• Tom Sheahan FG (Outside)
• Declan James Allen IND (Outside)
• Danny Byrne FG (Outside)
• Timmy Dooley FF (Outside)
• Patrick Connor-Scarteen FG (Outside)
• Patrick Hunt IND (Outside)
• Edward Timmins FG (Outside)
• Linda O’Shea Farren FG (Outside)
• Emma Blain FG (Outside)
• Ollie Crowe FF (Outside)
• Patsy O’Brien FG (Outside)
• Patrick Kinsella FG (Outside)
• Sharon Keogan IND (Inside)
• Sharon Tolan FG (Inside)
• John Paul O’Shea FG (Inside)
• Micheál Carrigy FG (Inside)
• Mark Wall LAB (Inside)
• Elisha McCallion SF (Inside)
• Catherine Ardagh FF (Inside)
• Niall Ó Tuathail SocDem (Inside)
• Nigel Dineen IND (Inside)

Éamonn Walsh appeared on the list of nominated candidates for this panel/constituency that was posted on 3rd March 2020, but did not appear on the final list of officially nominated candidates which was published on 10th March 2020. (He does however appear on the list for the Cultural and Educational panel.)

Labour Panel (11 seats) – 20 candidates (11 “Outside”, 9 “Inside”) Minimum of 4 to be elected from both the Outside and Inside Sub-Panels

• Aengus O’Rourke FF (Outside)
• Orla Leyden FF (Outside)
• John Hanafin FF (Outside)
• Sarah Walshe IND (Outside)
• Robbie Gallagher FF (Outside)
• Ned O’Sullivan FF (Outside)
• Gerard Craughwell IND (Outside)
• Paul Gavan SF (Outside)
• Martina Harkin-Kelly IND (Outside)
• Marie Sherlock LAB (Outside)
• Eileen Flynn IND (Inside)
• Michael Smyth FF (Outside)
• Joe O’Reilly FG (Inside)
• John Cummins FG (Inside)
• Jerry Buttimer FG (Inside)
• Máire Devine SF (Inside)
• Pat Casey FF (Inside)
• Shane Cassells FF (Inside)
• Pauline O’Reilly GP (Inside)
• Mary Seery Kearney FG (Inside)

Cllr. Mary Seery Kearney was not on the initial list of candidates, but was added as a candidate after the closing date for nominations as there was an insufficient number of candidates on the Labour Panel and in particular due to “a requirement that there must be two more candidates on both “inside” and “outside” panels than the maximum number of candidates who can be elected on each side” (Marie O’Halloran – Irish Times (10th March 2020))

University of Dublin – 10 candidates; 2 female 8 male (3 seats)

• Ivana Bacik LAB
• Lynn Ruane IND
• David Norris IND
• Hugo MacNeill IND
• Tom Clonan IND
• William Priestley GP
• Abbas Ali O’Shea IND
• Keith Scanlon IND
• Derek Byrne IND
• Joseph O’Gorman IND

National University of Ireland – 19 candidates; 8 female 11 male (3 seats)

• Ruth Coppinger Sol-PBP
• Eva Elizabeth Dowling GP
• Ronan Mullen IND
• Laura Harmon IND
• Alice-Mary Higgins IND
• Michael McDowell IND
• Rory Hearne IND
• Jennifer Butler IND
• Abbas Ali O’Shea IND
• Anne Staunton Barrett IND
• Keith Scanlon IND
• Brendan Price IND
• Garbhán Downey IND
• Michelle Healy IND
• Mick Finn IND
• Karen Devine IND
• Eoin Delahunty IND
• Marcus Matthews IND
• Peter Finnegan IND