Fine Gael’s Mark Duffy to contest Seanad elections as nominations close 

FINE Gael county councillor Mark Duffy is the only Mayo politician contesting the upcoming Seanad elections. 

The Ballina-based councillor is aiming to take one of the five seats on the Labour panel, which includes 18 candidates including three sitting Senators. Cllr Duffy won two local elections as an Independent before unsuccessfully running for the Dáil as a Fine Gael candidate. 

Notable omissions from the final list of Seanad candidates include Ballyglass native Paddy Burke, who is not seeking re-election after serving 31 years as Senator. 

The deadline for nominations to the various vocational panels closed yesterday (Wednesday, January 8).

Former Leader of Seanad Éireann Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fáil) confirmed recently that she was stepping back from politics after failing to get elected in the five-seat Mayo constituency in the November general election. 

Ballinrobe-based Fianna Fáil councillor Damien Ryan had indicated that he would run for the Senate but has not been nominated to run. Cllr Ryan initially put his name forward to run in the general election but withdrew his nomination, saying he intended to run for the upper house instead. 

Robeen-based Independent Cllr Patsy O’Brien, who lost out to Aontú’s Paul Lawless for the fifth and final Mayo Dáil seat, is not running for the Seanad. 

Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray, who sought a Seanad seat in 2020, is not running for in the upcoming Seanad elections, nor is Achill native Saoirse McHugh, who ran for both houses as a Green Party member in that same year. 

Fourty-three senators will be elected by electorate comprising the 174 TDs, 60 outgoing senators and 949 local authority councillors are the electorate for filling 43 of the seats on five Seanad vocational panels. Graduates of the National University of Ireland (NUI) institutions and Trinity College Dublin (TCD) will elect the six seats (three in each) on the NUI and University of Dublin panels respectively. The remaining eleven seats will be filled by the Taoiseach. 

Polls will close in the university panels at 11 am on January 29. Polls close for the vocational panels will close at 11 am the following day, January 30.