1934 Seanad

1934 Seanad
← 1931 Seanad Abolished (1936) 2nd Seanad (1938) →
Overview
Legislative body	Seanad Éireann
Jurisdiction	Irish Free State
Meeting place	Leinster House
Term	12 December 1934 – 19 May 1936
Government	7th Executive Council
Members	60
Cathaoirleach	Thomas Westropp Bennett (FG)
Leas-Chathaoirleach	Michael Comyn (FF) (1934–1936) David Robinson (FF) (1936)

The 1934 Seanad was the part of the Seanad of the Irish Free State (1922–1936) in office after the 1934 Seanad election until its abolition in 1936. Elections to the Seanad, the Senate of the Oireachtas (parliament of the Irish Free State) took place on a triennial basis, with senators elected in stages. The 1934 Seanad included members elected at the 1925, 1928, 1931 and 1934 Seanad elections. It sat as a second chamber to the 8th Dáil elected at the 1933 general election.

The Seanad of the Irish Free State was not numbered after every election, with the whole period later considered the First Seanad. Under the Constitution (Amendment No. 24) Act 1936, the Seanad was abolished, and for a time the Oireachtas became a unicameral legislature. The last sitting of the Seanad was on 19 May 1936, with the amendment signed on 29 May 1936. In 1937, on the adoption of the Constitution of Ireland, a new Seanad Éireann was established, with elections to follow general elections to Dáil Éireann, with each new Seanad numbered. An election to the 2nd Seanad took place in March 1938.

There were a total of 60 seats in the Free State Seanad. In 1934, 22 Senators were elected. The Seanad election in 1925 was a popular election. However, at the 1928 and subsequent elections, the franchise was restricted to Oireachtas members.

23 Senators had been elected at the 1931 Seanad election, 17 Senators had been elected at the 1928 Seanad election and 19 Senators had been elected at the 1925 Seanad election.^[1]

The following table shows the composition by party when the 1934 Seanad first met on 12 December 1934.^[2]

At the first meeting on 12 December 1934, there was a contest for the position of Cathaoirleach. James J. MacKean was absent for the vote but all other members were present. William Hickie chaired the election. The two candidates were the outgoing Cathaoirleach, Thomas Westropp Bennett (Fine Gael), and the Fianna Fáil candidate, Michael Comyn. Neither of the two candidates voted and so fifty-six senators voted in the election. This resulted in a tie of twenty-eight votes each. Westropp Bennett received the votes of all twenty-one members of Fine Gael and seven independents. Comyn received the votes of his eighteen Fianna Fáil colleagues, the seven Labour Party senators, and three independents (Edward Bellingham, Thomas Linehan and Laurence O'Neill). Hickie then gave his casting vote for Westropp Bennett saying he would have done so had he had the opportunity in the division.^[3]

The following week, Comyn defeated the outgoing Leas-Chathaoirleach, Michael F. O'Hanlon of Fine Gael, by twenty-six votes to twenty-five.^[4][5]

On 11 March 1936, David Robinson was elected unanimously as Leas-Chathaoirleach following the appointment of Comyn to the Circuit Court.^[6]

• Note: The entries for Senators who were elected or appointed to fill vacancies are shown in italics

• "1934 Seanad". Oireachtas Debates.