Victor Boyhan, a member of the Seanad for the Agricultural Panel, has confirmed that he will run to retain his seat in the upper house of the Oireachtas.
Boyhan confirmed to Agriland that he had secured a nomination to contest the forthcoming Seanad election, which will be held following the general election.
Boyhan, an independent, was first elected to the Seanad in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020. He has held numerous roles in the Seanad.
These include whip, and then leader, of the Seanad independents group, and membership of several joint Oireachtas committees, including the Audit Committee; the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine; and the Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
He has also been a member of the British – Irish Parliamentary Assembly since the year of his election.
Boyhan was elected from the Agricultural Panel of the Seanad, one of the five ‘Vocational Panels’ which together provide 43 of the 60 members of the house.
In a Seanad election, which is held shortly after a general election, TDs, outgoing senators, and members of city and county councils cast votes in the five panels to elect a certain number of new senators from each panel.
The Agricultural Panel provides 11 of the 60 Seanad seats. Other notable members from that panel include Minister of State for land use and biodiversity Pippa Hackett; vice-chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture Food and the Marine Tim Lombard; and former TD for Roscommon-Galway Eugene Murphy.
Boyhan – whose background is as a professional horticulturist – has frequently advocated for the agriculture and food sector; horticulture; and forestry, as well as balanced regional development and rural community development.
According to Boyhan, he has been a “strong contributor to Seanad Eireann debates”, and has “kept the pressure on government to publish new rural housing guidelines and made the case for removing impediments to farm families wishing to stay on, or return to, their home farmland to build a home”.