19th Seanad

The 19th Seanad was in office from 1989 to 1993. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1989 general election to the 26th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 20th Seanad in 1993.

19th Seanad
← 18th Seanad 20th Seanad →
Overview
Legislative body	Seanad Éireann
Jurisdiction	Ireland
Meeting place	Leinster House
Term	1 November 1989 – 17 December 1992
Government	21st government of Ireland (1989–1992) 22nd government of Ireland (1992–1993)
Members	60
Cathaoirleach	Seán Doherty (FF) (1989–1992) Seán Fallon (FF) (1992–1993)
Leas-Chathaoirleach	Liam Naughten (FG)
Leader of the Seanad	Mick Lanigan (FF) (1987–1990) Seán Fallon (FF) (1990–1992) G. V. Wright (FF) (1992–1993)

Cathaoirleach

On 1 November 1989, Seán Doherty (FF) was proposed as Cathaoirleach by Mick Lanigan (FF) and seconded by Patrick McGowan (FF). Avril Doyle (FG) was proposed by Maurice Manning (FG) and seconded by Charles McDonald (FG). John A. Murphy (Ind) was nominated by David Norris (Ind) and seconded by Brendan Ryan (Ind). Doherty was elected by a vote of 32 to 25.^[1]

On 8 November 1989, Liam Naughten (FG) was proposed as Leas-Chathaoirleach by Myles Staunton (FG) and seconded by Pól Ó Foighil (FG). Jack Harte (Lab) was proposed by Pat Upton (Lab) and seconded by Joe Costello (Lab). Naughten was elected by a vote of 15 to 10.^[2]

On 22 January 1992, Doherty resigned as Cathaoirleach after comments he made in relation to the phone tapping scandal, which would lead to the resignation of Charles Haughey as taoiseach on 11 February.^[3] On 23 January, Seán Fallon (FF) was proposed by G. V. Wright (FF) and seconded by Tras Honan (FF). He was elected without a division.^[4] Fallon won a contest against Des Hanafin, Tras Honan and Willie Farrell to be the Fianna Fáil nominee for the post.^[5]

Composition of the 19th Seanad

There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 were elected on five vocational panels, 6 were elected from two university constituencies and 11 were nominated by the Taoiseach.

The following table shows the composition by party when the 19th Seanad first met on 1 November 1989.

Origin Party		Vocational panels					NUI	DU	Nominated	Total
		Admin	Agri	Cult & Educ	Ind & Comm	Labour
	Fianna Fáil	4	6	3	5	6	0	0	8	32
	Fine Gael	2	4	2	3	4	0	0	0	15
	Labour Party	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	4
	Progressive Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	6
Total		7	11	5	9	11	3	3	11	60

List of senators

• Note: The entries for Senators who were elected or appointed to fill vacancies are shown in italics

Name	Panel	Party		Notes
Joe Costello	Administrative Panel		Labour	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Seán Doherty	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Michael Finneran	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
Seán Haughey	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Tras Honan	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
Patrick Kennedy	Administrative Panel		Fine Gael
Tom Raftery	Administrative Panel		Fine Gael
Avril Doyle	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Tom Fitzgerald	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
Richard Hourigan	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael
Thomas Hussey	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
Rory Kiely	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
Seán McCarthy	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
Charles McDonald	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael
Pat Upton	Agricultural Panel		Labour	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Patrick McGowan	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
Liam Naughten	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael
Francis O'Brien	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
Seán Byrne	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil
Maurice Manning	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fine Gael
Paschal Mooney	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil
Éamon Ó Cuív	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Joe O'Reilly	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fine Gael
Eddie Bohan	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
Richard Conroy	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
Liam T. Cosgrave	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fine Gael
Seán Fallon	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
Willie Farrell	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
Denis Foley	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Michael Howard	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fine Gael
John Ryan	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Labour	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Myles Staunton	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fine Gael
Donie Cassidy	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Des Hanafin	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Jack Harte	Labour Panel		Labour
Mary Jackman	Labour Panel		Fine Gael
Dan Kiely	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Don Lydon	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Larry McMahon	Labour Panel		Fine Gael
Brian Mullooly	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Dan Neville	Labour Panel		Fine Gael
Pól Ó Foighil	Labour Panel		Fine Gael
Batt O'Keeffe	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
John A. Murphy	National University of Ireland		Independent
Joe O'Toole	National University of Ireland		Independent
Brendan Ryan	National University of Ireland		Independent
Carmencita Hederman	Dublin University		Independent
David Norris	Dublin University		Independent
Shane Ross	Dublin University		Independent
Olga Bennett	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Hugh Byrne	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Martin Cullen	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Progressive Democrats	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Brendan Daly	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil	Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy[6]
John Dardis	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Progressive Democrats
Pat Farrell	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil	Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy[6]
Helen Keogh	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Progressive Democrats	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
Mick Lanigan	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Terry Leyden	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil	Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy[6]
Tony McKenna	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Denis O'Donovan	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Donal Ormonde	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Dick Roche	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil	Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy[6]
Eoin Ryan	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil	Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992[6]
G. V. Wright	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil	Leader of the Seanad from 23 January 1992

Changes

Date	Panel	Loss		Gain		Note
25 November 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil			Hugh Byrne elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Administrative Panel		Labour			Joe Costello elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Progressive Democrats			Martin Cullen elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil			Seán Doherty elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael			Avril Doyle elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil			Denis Foley elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil			Seán Haughey elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Progressive Democrats			Helen Keogh elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil			Éamon Ó Cuív elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil			Batt O'Keeffe elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil			Eoin Ryan elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Labour			John Ryan elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
25 November 1992	Agricultural Panel		Labour			Pat Upton elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election[6]
3 December 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach				Fianna Fáil	Brendan Daly nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election[6]
3 December 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach				Fianna Fáil	Pat Farrell nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election[6]
3 December 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach				Fianna Fáil	Terry Leyden nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election[6]
3 December 1992	Nominated by the Taoiseach				Fianna Fáil	Dick Roche nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election[6]

Sources

• "19th Seanad". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
• "19th Seanad". Oireachtas Debates. Retrieved 1 January 2025.

References

1. "Election of Cathaoirleach". Seanad Debates – Vol. 123 No. 1. 1 November 1989.
2. "Election of Leas-Chathaoirleach". Seanad Debates – Vol. 123 No. 2. 8 November 1989.
3. "Resignation of Cathaoirleach". Seanad Debates – Vol. 131 No. 1. 22 January 1992. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
4. "Election of Cathaoirleach". Seanad Debates – Vol. 131 No. 2. 23 January 1992. Archived from the original on 7 August 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
5. "Fallon beats Hanafin in secret ballot for chair". The Irish Times. 24 January 1992. p. 8.
6. "Business of Seanad". Seanad Debates – Vol. 134 No. 11. 17 December 1992.