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LAST UPDATE | 1 Feb
AONTÚ HAS LANDED its first ever Senator for the party after Sarah O’Reilly was deemed elected on the Agricultural Panel of the Seanad this evening.
The panel has now had its 11 seats filled, as counting to determine the 11 seats of the vocational Labour panel has begun.
In a post to X, Aontú leader Peadar Toibín wrote: “Ladies and gentlemen, history being made today!! We present to you, our first ever Seanadóir. Sarah O’Reilly.
“What year; increased votes, TDs, councillors, and now a brand new Seanadóir. And of course, winning the referendums.”
O’Reilly is currently a councillor for Cavan-Monaghan.
Niall Blaney was the first senator to be reelected to the panel today, after the first four seats were filled yesterday.
Blaney has served on the panel since 2020. His Fianna Fáil party colleague, Teresa Costello, was also elected to the panel this afternoon. The final five seats were filled this evening, finishing on count 24.
Eileen Lynch (FG), Sarah O’Reilly (AON), Paraic Brady (FG), Maria Byrne (FG), and P.J. Murphy (FG) joined the panel.
Yesterday, former Green Party TD Malcolm Noonan topped the poll on the Agriculture panel, exceeding the quota by over 11,000 votes.
Joanne Collins (SF), Victor Boyhan (IND), and Paul Daly (FF) also met the quota and were deemed elected on the same panel yesterday.
Former Sinn Féin TD Pauline Tully was the first TD who had lost their seat in the general election in November to be elected to the Seanad yesterday, on the Cultural and Education Panel.
The Cultural and Educational panel of the Seanad was the first panel to have concluded counting and has elected its five senators: Pauline Tully (SF), Cathal Byrne (FG), Shane Curley (FF), Seán Kyne (FG), and Joe Conway (IND).
The two university panels concluded counting yesterday. On the University of Dublin panel, Aubrey McCarthy was elected and joined Independent senators Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan, who retained their seats on the panel yesterday.
On the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel, the three incumbent senators were elected. Michael McDowell, Rónán Mullen, and Alice Mary Higgins are all Independents.
Of the 60 seats available in the Seanad, 11 are to be filled by Senators appointed by the Taoiseach. The six seats available between the two university panels are determined by graduates of the institutes.
Of the 43 seats being contested in election on the vocational panels, 21 have been filled.
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Qatar are damn right to tell them where to go.
This is just a power play from Saudi trying to establish themselves as the undisputed boss of the region, especially now they’ve been given the implied okay from Trump. For example one of the demands they have put on Qatar is to get rid of the Turkish military base there. Why would Saudi want that ask yourself? They know well that they can boss around other countries in the Middle East but not Turkey. Turkey have every right to be in Qatar with the approval of the Qatari leadership.
And as for the supposed substantive issue at the beginning of this, the “sponsorship of terrorism” that’s pot and kettle.
@Bob Mac: what stopped Saudi Arabia’s expansion in the 1930s was the fact they did not want conflict with the colonial powers. If Britain and France were not hovering about then the Saudis would have conquered Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. This is just Saudi trying to expand its influence again. They need to be stopped. Saudi produces a lot more radicalised Islamists but the fondness of America for oil means nothing will be done to undermine the Saudis.
Qatar is one of the most wealthy countries on the planet. They use their financial clout to support various terrorist organizations.
Recently Qatar hosted a conference by Hamas. The Al-Thani family is a major backer of this terrorist organization. Last year they transferred $31 million to the Gaza Strip with another $100 million on the way.
Qatar is also bankrolling the Muslim Brotherhood to the tune of billion of dollars.Members of the Egyptian Brotherhood have lived in Doha for decades.
They channel money and weapons to the notorious organization Ahrar al-Sham which has close links to Al-Qaeda.
Qatar has close ties also with the regime in Iran.
Germany has implicated Qatar as a sponsor of the Islamic State.
Qatar has gotten away with an opportunistic two faced foreign policy for far too long.
The game is up now.
Thankfully.
@Mark DeFriest: and Saudi does none of this?
@John B:
Just because Qatar is condemned by the Saudis does not mean they do not support terrorism.
Just because they splash the cash around the globe does not mean they do not support terrorism.
have your say