The 1922 Seanad comprised 30 nominated members and 30 elected members. An election to 30 of the 60 seats in Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Irish Free State, was held on 7 December 1922. The electorate consisted of the members of Dáil Éireann (TDs) who had taken the Oath of Allegiance.
The election was required by Article 82 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State, one of the transitory provisions to bring the state's institutions into being. Article 82 specified that 30 of the first senators would be elected by the Free State's Dáil and the other 30 nominated by the President of the Free State's Executive Council. The procedure to be used was specified in a resolution of 1 November made by the 3rd Dáil (sitting as a Provisional Parliament) and published in Iris Oifigiúil on 7 November. The Dáil debated whether the election should be before or after the President's nominations and resolved on the latter course. On 6 December, the day the Constitution came into force, the President, W. T. Cosgrave, announced his 30 appointees to the 3rd Dáil (now sitting as the 1st Free State Dáil). The election of senators by TDs was conducted on 7 December 1922 by single transferable vote as a single 30-member contest. A candidate for election had to be nominated and seconded by a TD; many were nominated by Cosgrave from among those submissions from various public bodies whom he had not included in his 30 appointees. Nominations closed at midday on 7 December; ballots were distributed at 3 p.m., the poll closed at 5 p.m., and counting began immediately. At 8 p.m., the Ceann Comhairle, who was also the returning officer, announced the result would not be known for some time, and the Dáil was adjourned. Cosgrave had announced the assassination of Seán Hales. Eighty-one TDs voted; none of the abstentionist TDs were eligible to vote or nominate candidates. To facilitate transfer of fractions of votes, each initial vote's value was multiplied by 1000, giving a quota of 2,613. Eighteen candidates were elected on the first count: one with four (4,000) first-preference votes and 17 others with three (3,000) each. 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. Candidates with equal numbers of first-preference votes were ranked by the number of second preferences and so on. The remaining twelve Senators were elected in 34 subsequent counts. Counting was completed after midnight, the results were announced next afternoon, and the Seanad first assembled on 11 December 1922.
Result
There were 35 counts and 112 candidates, of whom: 18 received three or four first-preference votes and were elected on the first count 11 received two first-preference votes and were elected on subsequent counts 4 received one first-preference vote, of whom one was elected on the final count 8 received no first-preference votes but some later-preference transfers; none was elected 71 accrued no votes and were eliminated on count 24
Notes
Sources
References