| 5th Seanad | |
| Body: | Seanad Éireann |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Meeting Place: | Leinster House |
| Term Start: | 18 August 1944 |
| Term End: | 12 March 1948 |
| Before: | 4th Seanad |
| After: | 6th Seanad |
| Membership1: | 60 |
| Chamber1 Leader1 Type: | Cathaoirleach |
| Chamber1 Leader1: | Seán Goulding (FF) |
| Chamber1 Leader2 Type: | Leas-Chathaoirleach |
| Chamber1 Leader2: | Timothy O'Donovan (FG) |
| Chamber1 Leader3 Type: | Leader of the Seanad |
| Chamber1 Leader3: | William Quirke (FF) |
| Government: | 4th Government of Ireland |
The 5th Seanad was in office from 1944 to 1948. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1944 general election to the 12th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 6th Seanad in 1948.
On 18 August 1944, Seán Goulding (FF) was proposed by Helena Concannon (FF) and seconded by Pádraic Ó Máille (FF) for the position of Cathaoirleach. He was elected unopposed.[1]
On 25 October 1944, Timothy O'Donovan (FG) was proposed by Michael Hayes (FG) and seconded by Patrick Baxter (CnaT) for the position of Leas-Chathaoirleach. He was elected unopposed.[2]
There are a total of 60 seats in the Seanad: 43 were elected on five vocational panels, 6 were elected from two university constituencies and 11 were nominated by the Taoiseach.[3]
The following table shows the composition by party when the 5th Seanad first met on 18 August 1944.
| Vocational panels | NUI | DU | Nominated | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admin | Agri | Cult & Educ | Ind & Comm | Labour | ||||||||
| Fianna Fáil | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 22 | |||
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||||
| 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 18 | ||||
| Total | 7 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 60 | |||