# 19th Seanad

The 19th Seanad was in office from 1989 to 1993. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1989 general election to the 26th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 20th Seanad in 1993.

## Cathaoirleach

On 1 November 1989, Seán Doherty (FF) was proposed as Cathaoirleach by Mick Lanigan (FF) and seconded by Patrick McGowan (FF). Avril Doyle (FG) was proposed by Maurice Manning (FG) and seconded by Charles McDonald (FG). John A. Murphy (Ind) was nominated by David Norris (Ind) and seconded by Brendan Ryan (Ind). Doherty was elected by a vote of 32 to 25.
On 8 November 1989, Liam Naughten (FG) was proposed as Leas-Chathaoirleach by Myles Staunton (FG) and seconded by Pól Ó Foighil (FG). Jack Harte (Lab) was proposed by Pat Upton (Lab) and seconded by Joe Costello (Lab). Naughten was elected by a vote of 15 to 10.
On 22 January 1992, Doherty resigned as Cathaoirleach after comments he made in relation to the phone tapping scandal, which would lead to the resignation of Charles Haughey as taoiseach on 11 February. On 23 January, Seán Fallon (FF) was proposed by G. V. Wright (FF) and seconded by Tras Honan (FF). He was elected without a division. Fallon won a contest against Des Hanafin, Tras Honan and Willie Farrell to be the Fianna Fáil nominee for the post.

## Composition of the 19th Seanad

There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 were elected on five vocational panels, 6 were elected from two university constituencies and 11 were nominated by the Taoiseach.
The following table shows the composition by party when the 19th Seanad first met on 1 November 1989.
| OriginParty | OriginParty | Vocational panels | Vocational panels | Vocational panels | Vocational panels | Vocational panels | NUI | DU | Nominated | Total | Total |
| OriginParty | OriginParty | Admin | Agri | Cult & Educ | Ind & Comm | Labour | NUI | DU | Nominated | Total | Total |
| | Fianna Fáil | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 32 | |
| | Fine Gael | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | |
| | Labour Party | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| | Progressive Democrats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| | Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | |
| Total | Total | 7 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 60 | |

## List of senators

* Note: The entries for Senators who were elected or appointed to fill vacancies are shown in italics
| Name | Panel | Party | Notes |
| Joe Costello | Administrative Panel | Labour | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Seán Doherty | Administrative Panel | Fianna Fáil | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Michael Finneran | Administrative Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Seán Haughey | Administrative Panel | Fianna Fáil | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Tras Honan | Administrative Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Patrick Kennedy | Administrative Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Tom Raftery | Administrative Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Avril Doyle | Agricultural Panel | Fine Gael | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Tom Fitzgerald | Agricultural Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Richard Hourigan | Agricultural Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Thomas Hussey | Agricultural Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Rory Kiely | Agricultural Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Seán McCarthy | Agricultural Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Charles McDonald | Agricultural Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Pat Upton | Agricultural Panel | Labour | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Patrick McGowan | Agricultural Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Liam Naughten | Agricultural Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Francis O'Brien | Agricultural Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Seán Byrne | Cultural and Educational Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Maurice Manning | Cultural and Educational Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Paschal Mooney | Cultural and Educational Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Éamon Ó Cuív | Cultural and Educational Panel | Fianna Fáil | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Joe O'Reilly | Cultural and Educational Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Eddie Bohan | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Richard Conroy | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Liam T. Cosgrave | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Seán Fallon | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Willie Farrell | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Denis Foley | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fianna Fáil | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Michael Howard | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fine Gael | |
| John Ryan | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Labour | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Myles Staunton | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Donie Cassidy | Labour Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Des Hanafin | Labour Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Jack Harte | Labour Panel | Labour | |
| Mary Jackman | Labour Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Dan Kiely | Labour Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Don Lydon | Labour Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Larry McMahon | Labour Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Brian Mullooly | Labour Panel | Fianna Fáil | |
| Dan Neville | Labour Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Pól Ó Foighil | Labour Panel | Fine Gael | |
| Batt O'Keeffe | Labour Panel | Fianna Fáil | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| John A. Murphy | National University of Ireland | Independent | |
| Joe O'Toole | National University of Ireland | Independent | |
| Brendan Ryan | National University of Ireland | Independent | |
| Carmencita Hederman | Dublin University | Independent | |
| David Norris | Dublin University | Independent | |
| Shane Ross | Dublin University | Independent | |
| Olga Bennett | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | |
| Hugh Byrne | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Martin Cullen | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Progressive Democrats | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Brendan Daly | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy |
| John Dardis | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Progressive Democrats | |
| Pat Farrell | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy |
| Helen Keogh | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Progressive Democrats | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| Mick Lanigan | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | |
| Terry Leyden | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy |
| Tony McKenna | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | |
| Denis O'Donovan | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | |
| Donal Ormonde | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | |
| Dick Roche | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | Nominated on 3 December 1992 to fill vacancy |
| Eoin Ryan | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | Elected to 27th Dáil at general election on 25 November 1992 |
| G. V. Wright | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | Leader of the Seanad from 23 January 1992 |

## Changes

| Date | Panel | Loss | Gain | Note |
| 25 November 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | | Hugh Byrne elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Administrative Panel | Labour | | Joe Costello elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Progressive Democrats | | Martin Cullen elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Administrative Panel | Fianna Fáil | | Seán Doherty elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Agricultural Panel | Fine Gael | | Avril Doyle elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Fianna Fáil | | Denis Foley elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Administrative Panel | Fianna Fáil | | Seán Haughey elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Progressive Democrats | | Helen Keogh elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Cultural and Educational Panel | Fianna Fáil | | Éamon Ó Cuív elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Labour Panel | Fianna Fáil | | Batt O'Keeffe elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | Fianna Fáil | | Eoin Ryan elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Industrial and Commercial Panel | Labour | | John Ryan elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 25 November 1992 | Agricultural Panel | Labour | | Pat Upton elected to 27th Dáil at 1992 general election |
| 3 December 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | | Fianna Fáil | Brendan Daly nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election |
| 3 December 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | | Fianna Fáil | Pat Farrell nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election |
| 3 December 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | | Fianna Fáil | Terry Leyden nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election |
| 3 December 1992 | Nominated by the Taoiseach | | Fianna Fáil | Dick Roche nominated to fill vacancy after the 1992 general election |

## Sources

* "19th Seanad". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
* "19th Seanad". Oireachtas Debates. Retrieved 1 January 2025.