A new exhibition highlighting the lives and work of women senators since the first sitting of the Seanad in 1922 has been launched at Leinster House.
Former Seanad chairwoman Tras Honan launched the Women in the Seanad exhibition on Tuesday.
The former Fianna Fáil senator was invited to open the exhibition by chairman of the Seanad, Senator Mark Daly, as the only woman ever to be elected as chair of the Seanad. She was nominated and elected, unopposed, in 1982 and was re-elected to the position in 1987.
The exhibition is the second to mark the upper house’s centenary celebrations.
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The exhibition showcases 26 such former senators, ranging from the first to the 25th Seanad. Members of the 26th Seanad are represented in a group photo taken in the Seanad chamber. The exhibition also lists every woman member of the Seanad over the last 100 years, from the four women senators elected in 1922, to the 23 women Senators in the current Seanad.
“Ensuring that women are no longer a minority voice in Irish politics and in Irish life has been a major change doggedly pursued by members of the Seanad. This exhibition captures many of those women senators who used their position to campaign for equality over the past 100 years,” Mr Daly said.
The exhibition is on display in the foyer of Leinster House and can be accessed by members of the public via tours of the building. The exhibition can also be viewed online.
