A by-election was held for a vacancy in the Cultural and Educational Panel of Seanad Éireann on 20 October 2014.
The vacancy was caused by the election of Fine Gael's Deirdre Clune to the European Parliament.
[2] On 12 September 2014, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys wrote to John McNulty, a businessman who had run unsuccessfully for Donegal County Council in the 2014 local elections, offering him a place on the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA); he accepted on 15 September, and before nominations closed on 18 September Fine Gael nominated him for the by-election to fill the Seanad vacancy.
[7] On 30 September, McNulty withdrew his name from consideration in the by-election, stating that "to contest the election would be an ongoing distraction from the critical work of Government"; however, as the period to formally withdraw had elapsed, his name remained on the ballot paper and he requested that electors not vote for him.
[9] On 23 February 2016, in a televised debate before the 2016 general election, Enda Kenny appeared to concede for the first time that it was his decision to nominate McNulty to IMMA, later backtracking somewhat.