Laois Sinn Féin woman based in Portlaoise makes electoral history

Laois has another representative in Leinster House with the historic election of Sinn Féin candidate Maria McCormack to Seanad Eireann.

Ms McCormack has also made Laois electoral history in being elected to the Labour Panel in the Upper house of the Oireachtas as she is the first Laois woman to take seat in either the Dáil or the Seanad.

The Portlaoise-based politician was elected over the bank holiday weekend at the count centre in Dublin. She was deemed elected after receiving a share of transfers following the elimination of Fianna Fáil candidate and former Minister Anne Rabbitte. The new senator was one of two Sinn Féin TDs to be elected to the Panel alongside former Dublin TD Chris Andrews.

It was the third election contested by Ms McCormack in less than 12 months.

The new senator was well down the field in the local elections when failing to win a seat on Laois County Council after running in the Portlaoise Municipal District. She polled 276 first preference votes.

She stepped into a major breach for her party when she contested the General Election for Sinn Féin in Laois. Ms McCormack was selected after sitting Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley quit the party over a disciplinary issue which caused major controversy for the party nationally.

Ms McCormack ran a big General Election campaign gaining nearly 5,000 first preference votes. She would ultimately fall just short behind Brian Stanley who retained his seat as an independent. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald with Ms McCormack ast the Sinn Féin Laois General Election convention in Portlaoise in 2024.

Her Seanad election repairs some of the significant political damage suffered by Sinn Féin in Laois in 2024. 

The party began the year with two Laois councillors and one TD in Laois. All three had resigned from the party in controversial circumstances by the end of the year. Sinn Féin also had poor local elections in Laois with just two of the seven candidates elected. Cllr Aidan Mullins and Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley were both sitting councillors and have since resigned from Sinn Féin.

There are 60 Members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas, and they are elected to five vocational panels and from two university constituencies, or they are nominated by the Taoiseach. MORE BELOW POST.

Elected - Maria McCormack, Seanad Éireann Labour panel#sinnféin pic.twitter.com/UFNNCKdQDy

— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) February 2, 2025

The main function of the Seanad is to debate legislation proposed by the Government. The Seanad can amend a Bill that has been passed by the Dáil and delay, but not stop, it becoming law.

Ms McCormack is one of 11 senators on the Labour Panel. She is the first Laois-based representative to be elected to the Seanad since John Whelan won a seat for the Labour Party in 2011. 

Former Minister of State Pippa Hackett was a Laois / Offaly-based senator in the last Seanad.

Senators, unlike TDs, are not elected to represent voters in their localities. However, Ms McCormack said she hopes to open an office in Portlaoise that would serve as a "hub" for herself and Sinn Féin’s local area representatives in Laois.

Fine Gael's Cllr Conor Bergin is also contesting the Senate elections in the Administrative Panel.

If he was elected, Laois would have five politicians in the Dáil and Senate. This may make up for the fact that Laois is not represented in the ministerial ranks after Séan Fleming was overlooked in the appointments made by Micheál Martin.