TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny’s close associate, Fine Gael Senator Paddy Burke, is likely to be chosen as Cathaoirleach (chair) when the 24th Seanad Éireann holds its first meeting at 2.30pm today.
Mr Burke is the outgoing Leas-Chathaoirleach (deputy chair).
First elected to the Upper House in 1993 on the agricultural panel, he has been returned at every election since.
He was a member of Mayo County Council from 1979 until the dual mandate was abolished in 2003. He was elected Leas-Chathaoirleach after the 2002 election and re-elected to the position in 2007.
“He is Enda Kenny’s campaign manager in Mayo for decades, they are hugely close,” a Fine Gael colleague from the new Seanad said yesterday.
A former county footballer at under-21 level, the shrewd and affable Senator is credited with devising the strategy which won four out of five Dáil seats for Fine Gael in Mayo in the general election.
The Leader of the House and head of the Fine Gael group in the new Seanad is expected to be Waterford Senator Maurice Cummins, despite speculation that the position would go to Cork-based Senator Deirdre Clune, daughter of former tánaiste Peter Barry.
Ms Clune lost her Dáil seat in Cork South Central in the general election.
As Father of the House – the member with the longest continuous period of service – the Independent Senator David Norris will temporarily take the chair.
Before calling for nominations for Cathaoirleach, he will speak about the challenges facing the Seanad – particularly the Government’s proposal for abolition – and the need to maintain the Seanad’s relevance and increase its credibility.
The Leas-Chathaoirleach position is normally filled, at a further sitting, by an opposition member; this is expected to be Fianna Fáil Senator Denis O’Donovan from Cork.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin last night announced his Seanad spokespersons, with Darragh O’Brien as group leader and Diarmuid Wilson as whip.
The party’s Seanad spokespersons are: foreign affairs, Jim Walsh; finance, Darragh O’Brien; public expenditure, Thomas Byrne; education, Averil Power; Enterprise, Mary White; social protection, Paschal Mooney; environment, Diarmuid Wilson; children, Terry Leyden; justice, Denis O’Donovan; health, Marc MacSharry; transport, Ned O’Sullivan; communications, Mark Daly; agriculture, Brian Ó Domhnaill, and arts, heritage and the Gaeltacht, Labhrás Ó Murchú.
“For as long as it [the Seanad] is in place, my party will play its full role providing robust and constructive opposition in the best interests of our country,” Mr Martin said.
