Senator Conor Murphy said Micheál Martin missed an opportunity to send a ‘positive message’ to unionist and Protestant communities.

Conway was arrested by gardaí on O'Connell Street, Co Dublin.

The last elected were independent candidate Eileen Flynn, Sinn Féin’s Nicole Ryan and Fianna Fáil’s Fiona O’Loughlin and Diarmuid Wilson.

The final count is taking place in the administrative panel.

Newry and Armagh MLA Liz Kimmins is to become the new minister for infrastructure.

The veteran republican took a seat on the industrial and commercial panel.

The veteran Sinn Fein politician is leaving his job as Stormont economy minister to take on a new role in the upper chamber of the Irish parliament.

Stormont minister Conor Murphy is hoping to land a seat on the industrial and commercial panel.

Votes are being counted for the 43 seats available on the upper house’s five vocational panels.

Cllr Conway's votes surpassed those of the outgoing Fianna Fáil Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

Just 31 votes separated the Greens’ Ms Chu and entrepreneur Aubrey McCarthy

Outgoing senators Ronán Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins were re-elected on the eighth count.

The vast majority of the public do not have a vote in the Seanad.

The Northern Ireland Economy Minister Conor Murphy has lodged his nomination papers for elections to the Seanad.

The Metropolitan Mayor Cllr Joe Kelly has been nominated to contest the upcoming Seanad elections in late January.

If successful Ann Marie Flanagan, who is an Independent candidate for the Administrative Panel in the 2025 Seanad election, would be the first ever disabled woman directly elected as a senator

Ann Marie Flanagan has stepped up her call to political parties to "urgently act on promises made to disabled people and their families" as she launched her Seanad campaign

Measures could be introduced so that train passengers who are delayed by more than an hour receive a full refund

The protest on Wednesday was an attack on democracy, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland