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Leader of the Seanad

Member of Seanad Éireann appointed by the Taoiseach to direct government business

Summary

Member of Seanad Éireann appointed by the Taoiseach to direct government business

FieldValue
postLeader of the Seanad
insigniaSeanad Eireann logo.png
insigniasize200
imageSeán Kyne (2025) (cropped).jpg
incumbentSeán Kyne
incumbentsince12 February 2025
departmentOireachtas Éireann
member_ofSeanad Éireann
reports_toCathaoirleach Leas-Chathaoirleach
appointerTaoiseach
firstWilliam Quirke
formation27 April 1938
salary€108,183 annually

(including €81,206 senator's salary) The Leader of the Seanad (referred to within the Seanad as Leader of the House ) is a member of Seanad Éireann appointed by the Taoiseach to direct government business. Since February 2025, the incumbent is Seán Kyne of Fine Gael. The deputy leader of the Seanad is Fiona O'Loughlin of Fianna Fáil.

Role

The Leader plays a similar role in the Seanad's procedure to that played by the Taoiseach in Dáil Éireann:

  • moving the day's order of business
  • may present a government bill without prior notice
  • ex-officio member of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges
  • may move a vote of sympathy

History

In the Seanad of the Irish Free State, there was no separate position of Leader. The order of business was controlled by the Cathaoirleach (chair). This was a symptom of the Seanad's independence from the Executive Council (government), which annoyed Éamon de Valera as President of the Executive Council. De Valera's Fianna Fáil government secured the abolition of the Seanad in 1936.

De Valera's 1937 Constitution created a new Seanad with less independence from the Dáil. The standing orders of the new Seanad provided for the role of Leader to control the flow of business from the government. A 2004 Seanad report into reforming its own functions recommended that the Leader be allowed to attend cabinet meetings, with a rank of minister or minister of state. Maurice Manning noted in 2010 that recent Leaders had more influence with the government, leading to increased input by the Seanad into legislation.

List

NameTerm of officePartyGovernmentsNotes
title=Death of Senatorurl=https://www.oireachtas.ie/ga/debates/debate/seanad/1955-03-09/2/website=Seanad Éireannpublisher=Oireachtasaccess-date=11 October 2018language=Irishdate=9 March 1955quote=When the Seanad was reconstituted in 1938, he was elected a member on the Agricultural Panel and served either as Leader of the House or as Leader of the Opposition until his death. [...] For the greater part of that period, he was Leader of the House and I was Leader of the Opposition. We changed places twice}}193819482nd, 3rd, 4th
Michael Hayes194819515th
William Quirke195119546th
Michael Hayes195419577th
Thomas Mullins195719738th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th
Michael J. O'Higgins1 June 197327 October 197714th
Eoin Ryan Snr27 October 19778 October 198115th, 16th
Gemma Hussey8 October 1981February 198217th
Eoin Ryan Snr26 March 198221 December 198218th
James Dooge21 December 19823 April 198719th
Mick Lanigan3 April 198716 May 199020th, 21st
Seán Fallon16 May 199023 January 199221st
G. V. Wright23 January 199220 December 199421st, 22nd, 23rd
Maurice Manning20 December 199417 September 199724th
Donie Cassidy17 September 1997May 200225th
Mary O'Rourke26 June 2002May 200726th
Donie Cassidy3 July 200725 May 201127th, 28th
Maurice Cummins25 May 20118 June 201629th
Jerry Buttimer8 June 201627 June 202030th, 31st
Regina Doherty27 June 202017 December 202232nd
Lisa Chambers17 December 202230 January 202533rd, 34th
Seán Kyne12 February 2025Incumbent34th

References

References

  1. (5 March 2025). "TDs and Senators salaries". Houses of the Oireachtas.
  2. (2010). "The Houses of the Oireachtas: Parliament in Ireland". Institute of Public Administration.
  3. (10 April 2018). "Seanad Éireann". Oireachtas.
  4. (20 June 2017). "Standing Orders relative to Public Business".
  5. (19 April 2004). "Report on Seanad Reform". Seanad Éireann.
  6. (9 March 1955). "Death of Senator". Oireachtas.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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