Composition of The 2nd Seanad
The Free State Seanad was elected in stages and thus considered to be in permanent session. However, as a gesture of continuity with its Free State predecessor, the first Seanad elected after 1937 is numbered as the "Second Seanad". The Free State Senate, despite the occurrence of five senatorial elections before its abolition, is considered to have been a single 'Seanad' for the duration of its existence and is thus referred for that whole period as the "First Seanad".
There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad. 43 Senators are elected by the Vocational Panels, 6 elected by the Universities and 11 are nominated by the Taoiseach.
The following table shows the composition by party when the 2nd Seanad first met on 27 April 1938.
| Administrative Panel | Agricultural Panel | Cultural and Educational Panel | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Labour Panel | National University of Ireland | University of Dublin | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fianna Fáil | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 19 | ||
| Fine Gael | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | ||
| Labour Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Independents | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | ||
| Total | 7 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 60 | ||
- Note: The figure above do not add up due to the Senators whose political affiliations are currently unknown.
Read more about this topic: Members Of The 2nd Seanad
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