A total of 12 candidates have been nominated to contest the 3 Seanad Seats allocated to the National University of Ireland constituency – with graduates from a certain group of Universities and educational institutions eligible to vote if registered. The three sitting senators Ronan Mullen, Michael McDowell and Alice Mary Higgins are all seeking reelection. The election will be held by postal ballot with over 112,000 electors on the NUI Register as of 30 December 2024. The poll will close on 29 January 2025 at 11.00am. The full list of candidates can be seen at this link here.
Nominations have also closed for the Dublin City University Constituency (Trinity Graduates only) where 3 Senate seats will also be filled – the two sitting senators Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan are seeking re-election and the third seat is currently vacant due to the retirement of Senator David Norris. 16 candidates have been nominated to contest the upcoming University of Dublin Seanad election. Ballots for the election will be posted to over 76,000 registered voters on 30th December 2024. The poll closes at 11 am on 29th January 2025.The full list of candidates is available here.
Any Seanad general elections held after 31 March 2025 will use a new six-seat higher education constituency, enfranchising graduates from all institutions of higher education recognised under the Higher Education Act 2022.
Over the coming weeks nominations will close for candidates contesting the five panels of the Senate allocated 43 senate seats – for nominating bodies, December 18th is the closing date and for members of the Oireachtas making nominations the closing date is December 31st. For these 43 seats in the Seanad the voters are sitting Councillors, TDs and Senators. Voting will close at 11am on January 30th. It is expected that Tipperary based Senator Garret Ahearn will be a candidate in the upcoming Seanad elections.
The incoming Taoiseach will appoint the final 11 Senators to reach the full complement of 60 Senators in the Seanad.
