Senator Niall Blaney re-elected, Robbie Gallagher also retains Seanad seat

Niall Blaney was re-elected to the Seanad over the weekend.

Fianna Fáil’s Blaney was re-elected to the Seanad’s Agricultural Panel.

In 2020, Blaney, a former TD from 2002-2011, was elected to the Seanad.

The Agriculture Panel has the joint-most number of seats of all the panels in the Seanad, with 11, and had 28 candidates standing for election.

Blaney obtained 96,537 votes in total and was the first elected.

Kilcar businessman John McNulty missed out on election to the Agricultural Panel. McNulty was also a Fine Gael candidate in the 2024 General Election.

Fine Gael Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh did not manage to gain election to the Labour Panel, eliminated on the eighth count after securing over 24,000 votes.

However, Termon native and Monaghan-based Senator Robbie Gallagher was re-elected onto the Labour Panel.

South Donegal Fianna Fáil Councillor Michael Naughton, the manager of the Clanree Hotel, was not elected to the Industrial and Commercial Panel, while Dublin-based Fine Gael Councillor Danny Byrne, a property consultant who hails from Bruckless was also beaten to a seat on the same panel. 

Of the 60 seats available in the Seanad, 11 are filled by Senators appointed by the Taoiseach. The six seats available between the two university panels are determined by graduates of the institutes.

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Counting has yet to commence on the Administrative Panel. Ardara-based Senator Eileen Flynn is contesting that panel.

Votes in the Seanad counting system are multiplied by 1,000 to avoid fractions, given the small electorate of just 1,172.