Leader of the Seanad


The Leader of the Seanad is a member of Seanad Éireann appointed by the Taoiseach to direct government business. Since June 2020, the incumbent is Regina Doherty of Fine Gael. The Deputy Leader of the Seanad is Lisa Chambers of Fianna Fáil.

Role

The Leader plays a similar role in the Seanad's procedure to that played by the Taoiseach in Dáil Éireann:
In the old Seanad of the Irish Free State, there was no separate position of Leader. The order of business was controlled by the Cathaoirleach. This was a symptom of the Seanad's independence from the Executive Council, which annoyed Éamon de Valera as President of the Executive Council. De Valera's Fianna Fáil government secured the abolition of the Seanad in 1936.
De Valera's 1937 Constitution created a new Seanad with less independence from the Dáil. The standing orders of the new Seanad provided for the role of Leader to control the flow of business from the government. A 2004 Seanad report into reforming its own functions recommended that the Leader be allowed to attend cabinet meetings, with a rank of minister or minister of state. Maurice Manning noted in 2010 that recent Leaders had more influence with the government, leading to increased input by the Seanad into legislation.

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