6th Seanad

The 6th Seanad was in office from 1948 to 1951. An election to Seanad Éireann, the Senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1948 general election to the 13th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 7th Seanad in 1951.

6th Seanad
← 5th Seanad 7th Seanad →
Overview
Legislative body	Seanad Éireann
Jurisdiction	Ireland
Meeting place	Leinster House
Term	21 April 1948 – 25 July 1951
Government	5th government of Ireland
Members	60
Cathaoirleach	Timothy O'Donovan (FG)
Leas-Chathaoirleach	Seán Goulding (FF)
Leader of the Seanad	Michael Hayes (FG)

Cathaoirleach

On 21 April 1948, Timothy O'Donovan (FG), the outgoing Leas-Cathaoirleach, was proposed by Michael Hayes (FG) and seconded by Luke Duffy (Lab) for the position of Cathaoirleach. He was elected unopposed.^[1]

On 2 June 1948, Seán Goulding (FF), Cathaoirleach of the 5th Seanad, was proposed by William Quirke (FF) and seconded by Helena Concannon (FF) for the position of Leas-Chathaoirleach. He was elected unopposed.^[2]

Composition of the 6th 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.^[3]

The following table shows the composition by party when the 6th Seanad first met on 21 April 1948.

Origin Party		Vocational panels					NUI	DU	Nominated	Total
		Admin	Agri	Cult & Educ	Ind & Comm	Labour
	Fianna Fáil	3	3	2	2	2	1	0	0	13
	Fine Gael	1	2	2	3	1	1	0	2	12
	Labour Party	0	2	1	1	2	0	0	2	8
	Clann na Talmhan	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	3
	Clann na Poblachta	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
	Independent	2	3	0	3	5	1	3	5	22
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
John Finan	Administrative Panel		Clann na Talmhan	Elected to 14th Dáil at the general election on 30 May 1951[4]
Patrick Fitzsimons	Administrative Panel		Independent
Seán Goulding	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
Michael Hearne	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
James McGee	Administrative Panel		Independent
Margaret Mary Pearse	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
Jeremiah Ryan	Administrative Panel		Fine Gael
Patrick Baxter	Agricultural Panel		Clann na Talmhan
Robert Malachy Burke	Agricultural Panel		Labour	Resigned on 6 December 1950[5]
John Counihan	Agricultural Panel		Independent
Seán Gibbons	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
William O'Callaghan	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael
Timothy O'Donovan	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael
Martin O'Dwyer	Agricultural Panel		Independent
Patrick O'Reilly	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
Martin Quinn	Agricultural Panel		Independent
William Quirke	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
James Tunney	Agricultural Panel		Labour
Michael Hayes	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fine Gael
Cecil Lavery	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fine Gael	Appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court on 21 April 1950[6]
Frank Loughman	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil
Liam Ó Buachalla	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil
Thomas J. O'Connell	Cultural and Educational Panel		Labour
Joseph Brennan	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent	Died on 1 February 1950[7]
Denis Burke	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fine Gael
Andrew Clarkin	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
James Crosbie	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fine Gael
Mary Davidson	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Labour	Elected to Seanad at a by-election on 16 June 1950, succeeding Luke Duffy[8]
Henry Morgan Dockrell	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fine Gael
Luke Duffy	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Labour	Resigned on 22 June 1949[9]
T. V. Honan	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
Peter Lynch	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent
Frederick Summerfield	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent
Richard Anthony	Labour Panel		Independent
John Butler	Labour Panel		Fine Gael
Seán Campbell	Labour Panel		Labour	Died on 27 February 1950[7]
Michael Colgan	Labour Panel		Independent
Andrew Fogarty	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Frederick Hawkins	Labour Panel		Independent
Seán Hayes	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
John Meighan	Labour Panel		Clann na Talmhan
J. T. O'Farrell	Labour Panel		Labour	Resigned on 31 May 1950[10]
Seán Ruane	Labour Panel		Independent
Michael Smyth	Labour Panel		Independent
Henry Barniville	National University of Ireland		Fine Gael
Helena Concannon	National University of Ireland		Fianna Fáil
George O'Brien	National University of Ireland		Independent
Joseph Warwick Bigger	Dublin University		Independent
William Fearon	Dublin University		Independent
William Bedell Stanford	Dublin University		Independent
George C. Bennett	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fine Gael
Eleanor Butler	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Labour
James G. Douglas	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Independent
Denis Ireland	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Clann na Poblachta
Patrick McCartan	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Clann na Poblachta
James J. McCrea	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Labour
Edward McGuire	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Independent
Séamus O'Farrell	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Independent
Edward Richards-Orpen	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Independent
Edmund Sweetman	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fine Gael
Patrick Woulfe	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Independent

Changes

Date	Panel	Loss		Gain		Note
22 June 1949	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Labour			Resignation of Luke Duffy on his appointment to the board of the Industrial Development Authority[9][11]
1 February 1950	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent			Death of Joseph Brennan[7]
27 February 1950	Labour Panel		Labour			Death of Seán Campbell[7][12]
21 April 1950	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fine Gael			Cecil Lavery appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court[6]
31 May 1950	Labour Panel		Labour			Resignation of J. T. O'Farrell[10]
16 June 1950	Industrial and Commercial Panel				Labour	Mary Davidson elected at a by-election to succeed Luke Duffy[8]
6 December 1950	Agricultural Panel		Labour			Resignation of Robert Malachy Burke[5]
30 May 1951	Administrative Panel		Clann na Talmhan			John Finan elected to the 14th Dáil at the 1951 general election[4]