Eighty-three candidates, including one former Fine Gael TD, have put their names forward to fill 43 of the 60 Seanad places available to nominees of vocational organisations.
Fine Gael's Gerard Murphy, who lost his seat in Cork North West, has received a nomination from the Multiple Sclerosis Society to run for the administrative panel.
Five panels representing a variety of different types of organisations exist: cultural and educational, agriculture, labour, industrial and commercial and administrative. Four of the places on the agriculture and labour panels must be filled by nominees of the vocational organisations or those nominated by members of the Oireachtas.
Three of the places on the industrial and commercial and administrative panels and two of those on the cultural and educational panels, must be filled by each category. The electors, numbering 1,000, are city and county councillors, members of the new Dáil and members of the outgoing Seanad.
The remaining 17 places are filled by nominees of the Taoiseach and those elected by university graduates.
