Sinn Féin Stormont minister Conor Murphy wins seat in Seanad

By David Young, PA

Sinn Féin Stormont minister Conor Murphy has secured a seat in the Seanad as the marathon counting process for the Seaned edges closer to conclusion.

Mr Murphy took one of the nine seats on the industrial and commercial vocational panel in a result confirmed close to 1am on Monday morning.

Northern Ireland’s outgoing economy minister has vowed to bring a “northern perspective” to the Seanad and use his switch from Stormont to the Oireachtas to advance his party’s push for Irish unification.

The other seats on the panel were taken by Fianna Fáil’s Aidan Davitt, Mary Fitzpatrick and Ollie Crowe, Fine Gael’s Garrett Kelleher and Linda Nelson Murray, Labour’s Laura Harmon and independents Sharon Keogan and Frances Black.

Former Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell was among the candidates who missed out on a seat on the panel.

The make-up of three other vocational panels have already been confirmed.

The 11 seats available on both the agricultural panel and the labour panel and the five on the cultural and educational panel have all been filled.

The fifth and final vocational panel to be counted at the home of Oireachtas at Leinster House will be the administrative one. That count will begin at 10am on Monday.

A total of 111 candidates stood for the 43 seats available on the vocational panels.

The five seats on the cultural and educational panel were taken by Sinn Fein’s Pauline Tully, Fine Gael’s Cathal Byrne and Sean Kyne, Fianna Fáil’s Shane Curley and independent Joe Conway.

Outgoing Fianna Fail senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee missed out on re-election to the panel while former Fianna Fail TD Joe Flaherty also failed to get elected.

On the agricultural panel, four Fine Gael candidates secured seats – Eileen Lynch, Paraic Brady, Maria Byrne and PJ Murphy.

Fianna Fáil candidates Paul Daly, Niall Blaney and Teresa Costello also won seats, as did former Green Party TD and minister of state Malcolm Noonan, Sinn Féin’s Joanne Collins, Aontu’s Sarah O’Reilly and independent Victor Boyhan.

On the labour panel, former Sinn Fein TD Chris Andrews won a seat, as did his party colleague Maria McCormack. The other nine seats were taken by Fianna Fáil’s Robbie Gallagher, Margaret Murphy O’Mahony and Pat Casey, Fine Gael’s Mark Duffy, Mike Kennelly and Joe O’Reilly, Labour’s Nessa Cosgrove, Patricia Stephenson of the Social Democrats and independent Gerard Craughwell.

Former Fianna Fáil junior government minister Anne Rabbitte, who lost her Dáil seat in the general election, missed out on a seat on the labour panel.

Counting for the six seats on the Seanad’s two university constituencies has already been completed.

The three seats in the Trinity/Dublin University constituency were taken by returning independent senators Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan, along with another independent Aubrey McCarthy

Former children’s minister Katherine Zappone was among the well-known candidates to miss out.

On the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel, incumbent independents Michael McDowell, Ronan Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins were all re-elected.

The vast majority of the public do not have a vote in the Seanad.

The Dáil’s TDs, outgoing senators and local authority councillors make up the electorate for the five vocational panels.

Graduates of NUI institutions and Trinity College Dublin vote for the six seats on the two university panels.

The final 11 Seanad seats are appointed by Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

Senators debate legislation put forward by the Government.

They can amend Bills and propose their own Bills but cannot prevent one from becoming law.