Seanad Elections Spark Hope for Gender Balance- See Her Elected

Ireland stands on the cusp of a significant milestone in political representation. The recent Seanad elections have highlighted both progress and potential for women in local government, according to See Her Elected, the national programme supporting women's political participation in local government.

Twenty women now hold Seanad seats, representing 40% of the elected members of the chamber. There is now a historic opportunity to achieve gender balance in one house of the Oireachtas, particularly if Taoiseach Michéal Martin uses his power to appoint additional women to bring about parity.

The election of 14 county councillors to Seanad Éireann will also result in the need for further co-options and See Her Elected are calling on political parties to co-opt women into these vacated council seats.

The recent co-option process to fill 52 county council seats vacated after the recent General Election resulted in 21 women taking office. Despite this, the overall net gain in female councillors is still just ten, leaving women's representation in local government at a mere 27% (256 female councillors out of 949). Ireland remains ranked 87th out of 141 countries in the United Nations dataset on elected seats held by women in local government bodies.

 Dr Michelle Maher, Programme Manager with See Her Elected, said there is a final opportunity of co-opting more women into vacated seats after the Seanad elections to improve representation in local government to match gender balance in Seanad Éireann.

"Women make up 50% of the population, yet they are far from achieving equal representation at decision-making tables. This is particularly stark in rural Ireland. Leadership at all levels is required to foster equity in political representation and ensure grassroots recruitment plans for women into political parties are more than mere lip service.

“With the Seanad elections now complete there are 14 council seats to fill. This offers an opportunity for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to make a real difference at local level by co-opting women into these seats and thereby bestowing incumbency status on these women which will in turn boost their 2029 local election chances. 49 Senators have now been elected, 20 of them are women which is 41%. It is the Taoiseach’s prerogative to directly appoint the final 11 Senators giving him the gift, for the first time in the history of the State, to achieve gender balance in a House of the Oireachtas,” said Dr Maher.

See Her Elected County Council Watchlist: 

• Two Galway County Councillors have been elected PJ Murphy (FG) and Shane Curley (FF). Galway County Council only had 6 female councillors after Local Elections 2024. FG added 1 female councillor after the GE (Siobhan McHugh Ryan co-opted into Deputy Pete Roche seat). Chance to increase female representation to 9.

• Longford’s Paraic Brady FG elected to the Seanad. Longford County Council could go from 2 to 3 and that would be a very strong statement from FG in a county consistently at the bottom in terms of female representation.

• Kerry County Council: Mike Kennelly FG elected to Seanad. After the 2024 Local Elections, Kerry had 6 women. This remained unchanged after the general election. Again, there is an opportunity for Fine Gael to increase female representation in the Kingdom by one.

• One of Sligo’s 3 female councillors, Nessa Cosgrove of the Labour Party has been elected to the Seanad. We urge the party to co-opt a woman in Senator Cosgrove’s seat to avoid a retrograde step for Sligo.

• Cork City Council has lagged behind Cork County Council in terms of female representation. In the 2024 Local Election, five women were elected. One additional female councillor was added after the general election with Niamh O’Connor of the Social Democrats being co-opted into Deputy Padraig Rice’s seat. Two Cork City Councillors, Garret Kelleher FG and Laura Harmon Labour have now been elected to Seanad Éireann. Once more, we hope to see the Labour Party continue its female representation on leeside and that Fine Gael will take the opportunity to further increase the party’s ranks of female councillors.

 

Dr Maher emphasised the importance of foresight in candidate development. "Politics is a long game, and so is candidate development. Party leaders need to take active steps now to include women from diverse backgrounds in their grassroots membership and to build long-term pathways to leadership positions, firstly by ensuring women are in the party. Those women need to be supported to be candidates in the 2029 local elections through mechanisms such as appointing them as local area representatives and into positions where they are the choice for co-options into vacant seats between now and then."

Research by See Her Elected has shown that incumbency offers a substantial electoral advantage. In the recent local elections, 85% (684) of incumbent candidates were re-elected, securing 72% of council seats. This advantage held true for both male and female incumbents. This success rate was consistent across genders, with 86% of female incumbents and 88% of male incumbents being re-elected while 68% of co-opted councillors in 2024 securing election compared to only 19% of new candidates. This underscores the urgency of addressing the structural barriers limiting women's representation at both local and national levels.

Please find a link to access a the full list of County Councillors who have been elected to the Seanad here:

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