Ireland’s High Court ruled that Seanad Éireann’s first meeting after a general election can take place only once all 60 members—49 elected and 11 nominated—are in place. The Divisional Court rejected ten senators’ request for declarations that the elected members could meet and that the Oireachtas could pass legislation before the nominees were appointed.
The senators brought the proceedings after the 2020 Seanad election returned 49 members, while no new Taoiseach had yet been elected to nominate the other 11. They argued that the Constitution did not make those nominations a prerequisite to the Seanad meeting or to legislation being passed. They also said the outgoing Taoiseach could advise the President to set a date for the House’s first meeting.
The defendants argued that Article 18.1 requires the Seanad to be composed of all 60 members before it can conduct business. They accepted that a continuing Taoiseach could, in principle, advise the President to set a meeting date, but said the decision was discretionary and that it was reasonable to wait until the Seanad could be fully composed.
The court held that Article 18.1 clearly requires both categories of members. It read Article 18.8’s reference to the first meeting of “Seanad Éireann” as referring to the House composed under Article 18.1. The absence of an express reference to nominees in Article 18.8 did not change that meaning. The court also rejected the argument that the Constitution’s democratic character or the need to pass emergency laws allowed a partially composed Seanad to sit.
The judgment was delivered on 29 June 2020. After the hearing, on 27 June, Micheál Martin was elected Taoiseach and appointed 11 senators. The court noted that the question of whether the Seanad could sit without nominees was no longer live, but decided the issues because they could recur and were of exceptional public importance.
The court rejected the senators’ contention that the Seanad could sit before all 60 members were in place. It did not decide whether a senator holds office before the first meeting, and made no finding on the scope of court review of a continuing Taoiseach’s discretion to advise the President to set a date.