The Senate's composition was specified in the Second Schedule of the 1920 act, and the mode and time of selection in the Fourth Schedule. These were similar to those suggested for the Senate in the report of the Irish Convention of 1917–18.[3] The 64 members were as follows:
17 "Representatives of Commerce (including Banking), Labour, and the Scientific and Learned Professions" to be nominated by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for a term of 10 years.
44 members elected by various interest groups:
Elected for a term of 10 years:
4 Archbishops or Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church holding Sees situated wholly or partly in Southern Ireland.
2 Archbishops or Bishops of the Church of Ireland holding Sees situated wholly or partly in Southern Ireland.
8 members of the Privy Council of Ireland of no less than two years standing who were taxpayers or ratepayers in respect of property in and had residences in Southern Ireland.
14 representatives of county councils, elected for a term of three years:
Only 39 of the 64 senators were selected or elected. The Irish Republic declared by Sinn Féin in 1919 rejected the legitimacy of the 1920 act. Sinn Féin had gained control of the county councils in the 1920 local elections. Áine Ceannt as secretary of the General Council of County Councils wrote to the Dáil Ministry asking whether to participate.[8] Only W. T. Cosgrave favoured participation, on the basis that the republic's First Dáil had agreed to use the Southern Ireland Commons election to select the members of the Second Dáil.[8] Other ministers favoured a boycott, both on the principle that the selection process was undemocratic, and on the pragmatic grounds that unionists would have a majority whereas a boycott would leave it inquorate.[8] Accordingly, on 28 April 1921 Austin Stack as Minister for Home Affairs issued a proclamation ordering "that members of County Councils and other bodies who uphold the right of the Irish people to choose their own representatives and Government take no part in the partial election so proposed for the said Senate".[9] The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Labour Party supported the Republic, and the Catholic hierarchy also refused to co-operate. Of the incomplete membership, many had participated in the Irish Convention.[10]
Of the 39 selected, 27 took the Parliamentary Oath of Allegiance, of whom 19 attended one of the two meetings. Fifteen attended the first and twelve the second, of whom eight attended both. Of the peers and privy councillors, 19 (all bar Cloncurry, Meath, and Westmeath) signed a letter refusing to act as a Senate if the elected Commons were replaced by an appointed "Crown Colony" assembly.[11]
List
Membership of the Senate of Southern Ireland[12][13]
The Earl of Meath was elected from both the peers' panel and the privy Councillors' panel.[23][24] The 1920 act and 1921 order made no explicit provision for this, whereas someone elected for multiple Westminster constituencies could only sit for one, creating vacancies in the others.
Waldron was nominated on 27 May without his knowledge; on 10 June he formally wrote to the Lord Lieutenant asking "to be relieved of the position".[23][28]
In 1922, both the Irish Republic and Southern Ireland were superseded by the Irish Free State. Some of the Southern Ireland senators were subsequently senators in the Free State Seanad (upper house), either appointed by W. T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council, or elected by the members of the Dáil (lower house).[14]
^Crawley, Frank C.; H. C. Drury; William Pearson; W. Boxwell (February 1933). "In memoriam. Sir William Taylor (1871–1933)". Irish Journal of Medical Science. 8 (2): 86–90. doi:10.1007/BF02954546. ISSN1863-4362. S2CID71882024.
^Maume, Patrick (1999). The long gestation: Irish nationalist life 1891–1918. Gill & Macmillan. p. 101.
^"Irish point of view on new tillage rules; Rt. Hon. Walter McMurrough Kavanagh Expresses Opinion With Regard to Compulsory Tillage Regulations in Ireland Farmer's Comments How Regulations Appear to an Irish Landowner". Christian Science Monitor. Boston. 28 March 1917. p. 3.