Eight Mayo contenders in Senate elections

Keen interest is evolving in Mayo in the Senate elections which are taking place during the month of March after nominations closed today.

Confirmation of the nominations this afternoon of Achill's Saoirse McHugh of the Green Party and former Fianna Fáil TD Lisa Chambers brings the number of Mayo contenders to eight,

Castlebar business woman Anne Barrett Staunton is one of eight female candidates contesting one of the three seats on the National University of Ireland panel. There are a total of 19 candidates in the field.

Roundfort Fine Gael Councillor Patsy O'Brien is among over 30 candidates seeking to secure one of the nine seats on the Industrial and Commercial panel.

It is his first time contesting an Oireachtas election after missing out on selection for last month's general election campaign.

Long-serving Charlestown Councillor Gerry Murray has been nominated by his party to contest the Agricultural panel, his party colleague, Rose Conway-Walsh, having won a seat in Dáil Éireann on February 8 after serving four years in An Seanad.

The Leader of Aontú Peadar Tóibín has announced that Paul Lawless has been officially nominated to contest the Seanad Elections on behalf of Aontú on the Cultural and Educational panel.

He performed with distinction in the 2020 general election.

The Labour Party has nominated Mayo businessman and general election candidate Kamal Uddin.
He is seeking to secure one of the nine seats on the industrial and commercial panel.

And bidding to retain his seat on the Agriculture panel is Senator Paddy Burke, who has been a member of An Seanad since 1993.

Three Mayo outgoing senators are not going forward for re-election, namely Michelle Mulherin, John O'Mahony and Dr. Keith Swanick, while Rose Conway-Walsh, who served in the Senate from 2016 to 2020, is a newly-elected TD for the county.