1922 Seanad
1925 Seanad →
Overview
Legislative body	Seanad Éireann
Jurisdiction	Irish Free State
Meeting place	Leinster House
Term	6 December 1922 – 5 December 1925
Government	1st Executive Council (1922–1923) 2nd Executive Council (1923–1927)
Members	60
Cathaoirleach	Lord Glenavy (Ind)
Leas-Chathaoirleach	James G. Douglas (Ind)

The1922 Seanad was the part of theSeanad of the Irish Free State (1922–1936) in office from the establishment of the Seanad in 1922 to the1925 Seanad election. Elections to the Seanad, theSenate of theOireachtas (parliament of theIrish Free State), took place on a triennial basis, with senators elected in stages. The 1922 Seanad included 30 members nominated by thePresident of the Executive Council and the 30 members elected by the Dáil. It was first constituted on 8 December 1922.

It sat as a second chamber to3rd Dáil elected at the1922 general election and the4th Dáil elected at the1923 general election. The Seanad of the Irish Free State was not numbered after each election, with the whole period later considered the First Seanad.

TheConstitution of the Irish Free State established the Oireachtas as abicameral legislature consisting of a lower house, theDáil, and an upper house, the Senate or Seanad. The Seanad's raison d'être was the assurance during the 1921 negotiation of theAnglo-Irish Treaty given byArthur Griffith tosouthern unionists and the British government that unionists would have adequate representation in the new parliament to safeguard their interests.^[1] TheThird Dáil, elected inelected in June 1922 as a "provisional parliament" or "constituent assembly", approved the Constitution in September, and continued as the Dáil of the new Free State when the Constitution came into force on 6 December 1922. However, there was no pre-existing body which might be repurposed as the Seanad, so this had to be constructed from scratch.

The Constitution specified a 60-seat Seanad, with senators serving 12-year terms and divided into four cohorts with one cohort re-elected every three years.^[2] For the initial 1922 Seanad, 30 were to be nominated by thePresident of the Executive Council and the other 30 elected by the Dáil. The President's selections would provide the second and fourth cohorts, for re-election in 1928 and 1934; the Dáil's provided the first and third, for re-electionin 1925 and 1931.^[3]

To honour Griffith's 1921 commitment, the Constitution required that the President of the Executive Council in making his nominations should "have special regard to the providing of representation for groups or parties not then adequately represented in Dáil Éireann".^[3][1] In October 1922, the provisional parliament passed aresolution moved byW. T. Cosgrave, who had succeeded Griffith as chairman of theProvisional Government, which stated that the President should "consult with representative persons and bodies, including the following:Chamber of commerce, theRoyal College of Physicians of Ireland, theRoyal College of Surgeons in Ireland, thebenchers of the Honourable Society ofKing's Inns, Dublin, theIncorporated Law Society of Ireland, Councils of theCounty boroughs of the Irish Free State".^[1][4] Cosgrave announced his selection in the Dáil on 6 December 1922, immediately after his election as president had been ratified by theGovernor-General.^[5] The 15 who would serve 12-year terms were selected by lot.^[3]

The Dáil election was conducted on 7 December 1922 bysingle transferable vote as a single 30-member district.^[6][7][8] The procedure to be used was specified in a Dáil resolution of 1 November and published inIris Oifigiúil on 7 November.^[9][10] A candidate for election had to be nominated and seconded by a TD; many were nominated by Cosgrave on submission from various public bodies.^[5][8][11] Nominations closed at midday on 7 December; ballots were distributed at 3 pm, the poll closed at 5pm, and counting began immediately.^[6] At 8 pm, theCeann Comhairle, who was also thereturning officer,^[9] announced the result would not be known for some time, and the Dáil was adjourned.^[8] President Cosgrave had announced the assassination ofSeán Hales during theIrish Civil War.^[12] Eighty-one TDs voted;^[7][13] none of theabstentionist TDs were eligible to vote or nominate candidates.^[a] To facilitate transfer of fractions of votes, each initial vote's value was multiplied by 1000, giving a quota of 2,613.^[6][7] Eighteen candidates were elected on the first count: one with four (4,000)first-preference votes and 17 others with three (3,000) each.^[6][7] The report on the conduct of the election speculated that groups of three TDs had coordinated their votes to ensure a candidate exceeded the quota.^[14] Candidates with equal numbers of first-preference votes were ranked by the number of second preferences and so on.^[14] The remaining twelve Senators were elected in 34 subsequent counts.^[6][7] Counting was completed after midnight,^[6] the results were announced next afternoon,^[13] and the Seanad first assembled on 11 December 1922.^[15]

Of the sixty members of the first Senate, 36 wereCatholic, 20 wereProtestant, 3 wereQuakers and 1 wasJewish. It contained 7peers, adowager countess (Ellen, Countess of Desart, who was Jewish), 5baronets and severalknights.The New York Times remarked that the first senate was "representative of all classes", though it has also been described as, "the most curious political grouping in the history of the Irish state".^[16]

On 26 November 1924,Alice Stopford Green presented to the Seanad a vellum parchment signed by all but one^[b] member of the 1922–1925 Seanad, in an ornate casket commissioned fromMia Cranwill based onGallarus Oratory.^[18][19] After the 1936abolition of the Seanad, the casket was donated to theRoyal Irish Academy.^[18]

The following table shows the composition by party when the 1922 Seanad first met on 11 December 1922.

• Constitution of the Irish Free State
• "1922 Seanad".Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved14 November 2009.
• "Seanad Debates: 1922 Seanad".Oireachtas. Retrieved28 September 2023.
• Department of Local Government (February 1923).Report on the conduct of the first election to Seanad Éireann(PDF). Official publications. Vol. P.Pro 2/1923. Retrieved5 January 2014.

• Members of the 1922 Seanad
• Lists of members of Seanad Éireann by term

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• CS1: long volume value