7th Seanad

The 7th Seanad was in office from 1951 to 1954. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1951 general election to the 14th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 8th Seanad in 1954.

7th Seanad
← 6th Seanad 8th Seanad →
Overview
Legislative body	Seanad Éireann
Jurisdiction	Ireland
Meeting place	Leinster House
Term	14 July 1951 – 7 July 1954
Government	6th government of Ireland
Members	60
Cathaoirleach	Liam Ó Buachalla (FF)
Leas-Chathaoirleach	Timothy O'Donovan (FG)
Leader of the Seanad	William Quirke (FF)

Cathaoirleach

On 14 August 1951, Liam Ó Buachalla (FF), was proposed by Seán Goulding (FF) and seconded by Margaret Mary Pearse (FF) for the position of Cathaoirleach. He was elected unopposed.^[1]

On 7 November 1951, Timothy O'Donovan (FG), Cathaoirleach of the 6th Seanad, was proposed by Michael Hayes (FG) and seconded by Frank J. Hugh O'Donnell (Ind) for the position of Leas-Chathaoirleach. He was elected unopposed.^[2]

Composition of the 7th 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 7th Seanad first met on 14 August 1951.

Origin Party		Vocational panels					NUI	DU	Nominated	Total
		Admin	Agri	Cult & Educ	Ind & Comm	Labour
	Fianna Fáil	3	4	3	3	2	1	0	9	25
	Fine Gael	1	3	1	1	2	1	0	0	9
	Labour Party	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	3
	Clann na Talmhan	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	3
	Independent	2	1	1	5	5	1	3	2	19
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
Patrick Fitzsimons	Administrative Panel		Independent
Michael Hearne	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
James J. McCrea	Administrative Panel		Labour
James McGee	Administrative Panel		Independent
Michael J. O'Higgins	Administrative Panel		Fine Gael
Thomas Ruane	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
Patrick Teehan	Administrative Panel		Fianna Fáil
Patrick Baxter	Agricultural Panel		Clann na Talmhan
Bernard Commons	Agricultural Panel		Clann na Talmhan
Patrick Gorry	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
James Kilroy	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil	Died on 5 January 1954[4]
Michael Óg McFadden	Agricultural Panel		Fine Gael
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
William Quirke	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil
James Tunney	Agricultural Panel		Labour
Michael Hayes	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fine Gael
Frank Loughman	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil
James B. Lynch	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil	Died on 12 March 1954[5]
Liam Ó Buachalla	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil
Patrick F. O'Reilly	Cultural and Educational Panel		Independent
Denis Burke	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fine Gael
Andrew Clarkin	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
James G. Douglas	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent
Jane Dowdall	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
Seán Hartney	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Fianna Fáil
Peter Lynch	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent
Edward McGuire	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent
Frank J. Hugh O'Donnell	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent
Frederick Summerfield	Industrial and Commercial Panel		Independent
Pádraig Ághas	Labour Panel		Independent
John Butler	Labour Panel		Fine Gael
Michael Colgan	Labour Panel		Independent	Died on 22 June 1953[6]
Noel Hartnett	Labour Panel		Independent
Frederick Hawkins	Labour Panel		Independent
Seán Hayes	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Vincent McHugh	Labour Panel		Fine Gael
William McMullen	Labour Panel		Labour
John Meighan	Labour Panel		Clann na Talmhan
Daniel O'Rourke	Labour Panel		Fianna Fáil
Seán Ruane	Labour Panel		Independent
Henry Barniville	National University of Ireland		Fine Gael
Helena Concannon	National University of Ireland		Fianna Fáil	Died on 27 February 1952[7]
John F. Cunningham	National University of Ireland		Independent	Elected to Seanad at a by-election on 25 February 1953, succeeding Helena Concannon[8]
George O'Brien	National University of Ireland		Independent
Gardner Budd	Dublin University		Independent	Appointed as a judge of the High Court on 2 October 1951[9]
William Fearon	Dublin University		Independent
William J. E. Jessop	Dublin University		Independent	Elected to Seanad at a by-election on 12 March 1952, succeeding Gardner Budd[10]
William Bedell Stanford	Dublin University		Independent
Daniel Corkery	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Robert Farnan	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Seán Goulding	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
T. V. Honan	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Joseph Johnston	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Independent
Eamon Kissane	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Seán O'Donovan	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Seán O'Grady	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Independent
Margaret Mary Pearse	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil
Michael Yeats	Nominated by the Taoiseach		Fianna Fáil

Changes

Date	Panel	Loss		Gain		Note
2 October 1951	Dublin University		Independent			Gardner Budd appointed as a judge of the High Court[9][11]
27 February 1952	National University		Fianna Fáil			Death of Helena Concannon[7][12]
12 March 1952	Dublin University				Independent	William J. E. Jessop elected at a by-election to succeed Gardner Budd[10]
16 September 1952	Labour Panel		Labour			Disqualification of William McMullen due to bankruptcy[13][14]
25 February 1953	National University				Independent	John F. Cunningham elected at a by-election to succeed Helena Concannon[8]
25 February 1953	Labour Panel				Labour	William McMullen deemed to be elected to fill casual vacancy[8]
22 June 1953	Labour Panel		Independent			Death of Michael Colgan[6]
1 September 1953	Labour Panel		Labour			Resignation of William McMullen to join the board of CIÉ[15]
5 January 1954	Agricultural Panel		Fianna Fáil			Death of James Kilroy[4]
12 March 1954	Cultural and Educational Panel		Fianna Fáil			Death of James B. Lynch[5]