RUTH COPPINGER HAS announced she will contest the upcoming Seanad election after losing her Dáil seat in last Saturday’s general election.

The former Solidarity-People Before Profit TD was defeated on the sixth count in Dublin West.


First elected to the Dáil in a by-election in 2014, Coppinger had been a fierce critic of the government and an advocate for women’s and workers’ rights.

Coppinger officially launched her Seanad bid in Dublin city this morning. She will be a candidate for the National University of Ireland constituency.

Speaking after lodging her registration papers, Coppinger said: “My aim is to use the national platform [the Seanad] provides to advance the unfinished business of workers’ and women’s rights in particular, as well as the need for radical action on the housing crisis and climate change.”

A number of former TDs who lost their sets in the election are expected to launch Seanad bids.

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Former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock has already announced his intention to run in the Seanad election. He was eliminated on the fifth count in Dublin North-West, where he had been elected in 2016, last weekend.

The Green Party’s Saoirse McHugh, who missed out on securing a Dáil seat in Mayo, also plans to run for the Seanad.

Some high-profile senators have also announced their reelection bids including Lynn Ruane, Ivana Bacik and Alice-Mary Higgins.