Update 5.30pm: Victor Boyhan, Paddy Burke and Brian O Domhnaill have now also been elected to the Agricultural panel as counting continues to fill the remaining seats.

Counting is continuing in the Seanad elections with ballots for the 11-seat Agricultural panel being counted today, writes Elaine Loughlin, Political Reporter.

The Seanad count began yesterday with five members elected to the Cultural and Educational panel.

Update 1.27pm: Denis O’Donovan was elected on the ninth count this afternoon.

Earlier: LGBT campaigner and Sinn Féin member Fintan Warfield was the first person to be elected to the 25th Seanad yesterday.

The 24-year-old topped the poll and was elected on the first count.

Former TDs Kieran O’Donnell and Gabrielle McFadden secured seats on the panel as did Lorraine Clifford-Lee and Keith Swanick.

Counting began for the Agricultural panel this morning and so far Sinn Féin candidates Rose Conway-Walsh and Trevor Ó Clochartaigh have been elected to the Upper House.

This count continues.

A total of 166 candidates had put themselves forward for the Seanad’s 60 seats available.

These include 13 former TDs who lost their Dáil seats in the General Election.

Both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin are expected to make significant gains in the Upper House after winning additional seats in the 2014 local elections, while Labour are expected to be the biggest losers.

Some 43 of the 60 members of the next Seanad will be elected by local councillors, TDs and out-going senators to five panels representing vocational interests namely, culture and education, agriculture, labour, industry and commerce, and public administration.

Another 11 senators are nominated by the Taoiseach, while the final six are elected by university graduates — three each by the National University of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin.