19th Seanad
The 19th Seanad was in office from 1989 to 1993. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas, followed the 1989 general election to the 26th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 20th Seanad in 1993.
Cathaoirleach
On 1 November 1989, Seán [Doherty (Roscommon politician)|Seán Doherty] was proposed as Cathaoirleach by Mick Lanigan and seconded by Patrick McGowan. Avril Doyle was proposed by Maurice Manning and seconded by Charles McDonald. John A. Murphy was nominated by David Norris and seconded by Brendan Ryan. Doherty was elected by a vote of 32 to 25.On 8 November 1989, Liam Naughten was proposed as Leas-Chathaoirleach by Myles Staunton and seconded by Pól Ó Foighil. Jack Harte was proposed by Pat Upton and seconded by Joe Costello. Naughten was elected by a vote of 15 to 10.
On 22 January 1992, Doherty resigned as Cathaoirleach after comments he made in relation to the phone tapping scandal, which would lead to the resignation of Charles Haughey as taoiseach on 11 February. On 23 January, Seán Fallon was proposed by G. V. Wright and seconded by Tras Honan. He was elected without a division. Fallon won a contest against Des Hanafin, Tras Honan and Willie Farrell to be the Fianna Fáil nominee for the post.
Composition of the 19th Seanad
There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 were elected on five vocational panels, 6 were elected from two university constituencies and 11 were nominated by the Taoiseach.The following table shows the composition by party when the 19th Seanad first met on 1 November 1989.