Under the Constitution, the Taoiseach has the power to appoint 11 members to the Seanad, and the two major coalition partners, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have agreed to divide the seats between them.
Fianna Fáil will receive the lion’s share with six seats due to their stronger performance in last year’s general election, while Fine Gael will receive five.
Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris are expected to take several factors into account when making their selections, including geographical balance, key target seats for the next general election, and colleagues who were not elected to the Dáil or Seanad.
Last Friday, Martin hinted that he would prioritise appointing more women to the Seanad to improve gender balance. Since the formation of the current Government, Left-wing opposition parties and some media figures have criticised what they see as a lack of gender parity. Complaints have focused on the fact that 12 of 15 senior ministerial positions and 17 of 23 junior ministerial positions were given to male politicians.
Speaking to reporters in Cork last Friday, the Taoiseach responded by suggesting he would appoint female Seanad members and assign female politicians leadership roles in Dáil and Seanad committees to address concerns about imbalance.
“I do [intend to appoint women to the Seanad],” he said.
“We had seven women TDs elected. Four are now ministers, and three are members of Dáil Éireann for the first time.
“I have not appointed any TD – male or female – [on their] first time in Dáil Éireann on this occasion.”
“But I certainly will certainly be looking at them in terms of chairmanship of Dáil committees and also in terms of the Senate.”
His comments come just days after an Ireland Thinks poll in last week’s Sunday Independent found that the overwhelming majority of respondents oppose gender quotas.
When asked, “Do you think there should be a gender quota to fill ministerial positions in Irish politics or would you prefer people to be promoted based entirely on their merits?”, only 22% supported gender quotas, while 74% backed “promotion on merit only.” Meanwhile, 4% said they were “unsure.”
Even among women, a majority rejected gender quotas, with 64% supporting merit-based promotions, 31% in favour of quotas, and 5% unsure.