ABSTRACT
Senates have appeared and disappeared periodically in Irish political history across centuries, and their composition and functions have regularly been the source of controversy. Most recently, in a referendum held in 2013, voters in the Republic of Ireland were given the opportunity to abolish Ireland’s senate – Seanad Éireann. The proposal to close the chamber was defeated by a narrow margin, albeit on a low turnout. In order to set the referendum in historical relief, this chapter traces the evolution of the upper chamber on the island of Ireland beginning with the period from the Middle Ages to pre-twentieth-century constitutional arrangements. Following this, a more detailed analysis is presented of bicameralism in post-independent Ireland until recent decades. The latter half of the chapter considers the recent referendum in detail, as well as post-referendum attempts at reform of the chamber.
