2019 Irish local elections

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949 County and City Council Seats
Opinion polls
Turnout	50.12%1.58pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Micheál Martin Leo Varadkar Mary Lou McDonald Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Sinn Féin Leader since 26 January 2011 2 June 2017 10 February 2018 Last election 267 235 159 Seats won 279 255 81 Seat change 12 20 78 Popular vote 467,407 438,494 164,637 Percentage 26.92% 25.26% 9.48% Swing 1.72% 1.34% 5.68%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Brendan Howlin Eamon Ryan Catherine Murphy Róisín Shortall Party Labour Green Social Democrats Leader since 20 May 2016 27 May 2011 15 July 2015 Last election 51 12 New party Seats won 57 49 19 Seat change 6 37 New party Popular vote 99,500 96,315 39,644 Percentage 5.73% 5.55% 2.28% Swing 1.41% 3.95% New party   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   S-PBP I4C Leader Collective leadership Peadar Tóibín None Party Solidarity–PBP Aontú Inds. 4 Change Leader since n/a 28 January 2019 n/a Last election 28[a] New party 0 Seats won 11 (Sol 4) (PBP 7) 3 3 Seat change 17 New party 3 Popular vote 32,883 (Sol 10,911) (PBP 21,972) 25,660 8,626 Percentage 1.89% (Sol 0.64%) (PBP 1.29%) 1.48% 0.5% Swing 1.11% (Sol0.60%) (PBP0.41%) New party 0.39%

The2019 Irish local elections were held in alllocal authorities in Ireland on Friday, 24 May 2019, on the same day as the2019 European Parliament election and areferendum easing restrictions on divorce.^[1][2] Each local government area is divided intolocal electoral areas (LEAs) where three to seven councillors are elected on theelectoral system ofproportional representation by means of thesingle transferable vote.^[3]

There was one change to the local government areas since the2014 elections, with atransfer of land fromCounty Cork toCork city under theLocal Government Act 2019.^[4]

Reviews of the county boundaries nearDrogheda,^[5][6]Athlone,^[7][8] andCarlow (Graiguecullen)^[9][10] recommended no change. A review recommending transfer ofFerrybank fromKilkenny County Council toWaterford City and County Council was rejected by ministerSimon Coveney after objections from Kilkenny.^[11][12]

TwoLocal Electoral Area Boundary Committees were established in 2017 under theLocal Government Reform Act 2014 and reported on 13 June 2018.^[13] The government accepted all recommendations and the boundaries of municipal districts and LEAs were consequently revised bystatutory instruments signed on 19 December 2018 byJohn Paul Phelan,Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.^[14] In 2014, most districts had a single LEA and all LEAs (except for Cork city) had between 6 and 10 councillors, whereas from 2019 LEAs had between 3 and 7 councillors and some large municipal districts on the west coast had two LEAs to account for the greater distances involved for elected representatives.

Under the 2014 Act, the municipal districts containing the area of the formerborough councils of Clonmel, Drogheda, Sligo and Wexford are designated as borough districts.^[15] The Boundary Committee proposed also designating census towns over 30,000 as borough districts, which would include the towns of Bray, Navan and Dundalk. A change to this designation was made bystatutory instrument but was later reversed as incompatible with the 2014 Act.^[16]

Plebiscites took place inCork City Council,Limerick City and County Council andWaterford City and County Council on whether to create the office of directly elected mayors with executive functions who will act as anex officio member and chair of the council.^[17][18] These plebiscites were held under Part 6 of the Local Government Act 2019.^[4] The proposal was approved in Limerick City and County and rejected in both Cork City and Waterford City and County.^[19]

The elections were held in accordance with the Local Elections Regulations 1995 as amended.^[20][21] Relevant dates are as follows:

• 25 March:Ministerial order fixing the election date was made byEoghan Murphy, theMinister for Housing, Planning and Local Government.^[22]
• 30 March:Election spending audit period begins.^[20]
• 24 April: Posters may be put up in public.^[20]
• 27 April: Opening (10am) of period of formal nomination of candidates toreturning officer of each local authority.^[20] Political parties will in general have selected candidates for nomination in advance of this date.
• 28 April: Last date for addition to thepostal and special voters lists.^[23]
• 4 May: Nominations close (midday).^[20]
• 7 May: Last date for addition to the supplementaryelectoral register.^[23]
• 23 May: Polling day on offshore islands.^[24]Broadcasting Authority of Ireland moratorium on campaign coverage starts at 2pm.^[25]
• 24 May: Polling day (7 a.m. – 10 p.m.^[23]). Election spending audit period ends.^[20]
• 25 May: Counting of votes begins.
• 31 May: Newly elected councillors take office.^[20] Posters must be removed by this date to avoid constituting an offence oflittering.^[20]
• 7 June: First meeting of the new councils.^[20]

Fine Gael head office issued a pre-election circular to its candidates on strategy for negotiating post-election power-sharing deals with other parties or groups.^[26] It prohibits deals with Sinn Féin, except where a council shares power across all groups (typically viaD'Hondt method allocation of posts).^[26]

Garda inquiries were launched in relation to an unusually large number of postal vote applications in theBallymote–Tubbercurry LEA,^[27] and alleged irregularities around 200 names added to the supplementary electoral register in theKillarney LEA.^[28]

Ellie Kisyombe, aMalawi-bornrefugee running for the Social Democrats in Dublin's North Inner City LEA, was retained after a review of inconsistencies in her account of her asylum history and time indirect provision, which caused several party members to resign in protest.^[29] The principal of Cadamstownnational school inCounty Kildare was criticised for a letter to parents praising Fianna Fáil councillors over those of Fine Gael in dealing with the school.^[30]

TaoiseachLeo Varadkar stated after the poll that news of apersonal injury claim taken by Fine Gael TDMaria Bailey in the week preceding the elections had caused reputational damage to Fine Gael.^[31]

Republican Sinn Féin andIndependent Left are not registered parties; therefore their candidates appear on the ballot as Non-Party.

People Before Profit andSolidarity candidates ran under the electoral allianceSolidarity–People Before Profit.

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	279	12	467,736	26.92	1.72
	Fine Gael	255	20	439,317	25.29	1.34
	Sinn Féin	81	78	164,307	9.46	5.68
	Labour	57	6	99,502	5.73	1.41
	Green	49	37	96,313	5.54	3.95
	Social Democrats	19	New	39,642	2.28	New
	People Before Profit	7	7	21,972	1.29	0.41
	Solidarity	4	10	10,911	0.64	0.60
	Aontú	3	New	25,662	1.48	New
	Inds. 4 Change	3	3	9,055	0.52	0.39
	Renua	1	New	10,115	0.58	New
	Workers and Unemployed	1		2,621	0.15	0.04
	Workers' Party	1		2,620	0.15	0.03
	Kerry Ind. Alliance	1		1,983	0.11	0.01
	Independent Left	1	New	1,808	0.10	New
	Irish Democratic	1	New	1,054	0.06	New
	Republican Sinn Féin	1		971	0.06	0.03
	Éirígí	0		1,547	0.09	0.09
	HRRA	0		1,462	0.08	0.08
	Direct Democracy	0		585	0.03	0.18
	United People	0		134	0.01	0.01
	Independent	185	7	338,091	19.56	3.24
Totals		949	—	1,737,408	100.00	—
Electorate: 3,535,450Total votes: 1,772,026Spoilt votes: 34,618 (1.95%)Turnout: 50.12%
Source:Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

All foreigners residing in Ireland can run and vote in local elections, irrespective of their residence status. This also includes asylum-seekers.^[33] In 2019, 31 non-Irish candidates ran in the election, originating from countries such as Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Lithuania. Four managed to win seats.^[34] Members of the largest minority in Ireland, the Polish were less active as candidates than in previous elections in 2009 and 2014. While in those years, 9 Polish candidates ran each time, in 2019 the number was only 3. None won a seat.^[35]

• 2019 Northern Ireland local elections

• "Local Elections 2019: Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics"(PDF).Government of Ireland.Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Retrieved16 June 2023.
• 2019 Local Elections ElectionsIreland.org
• Adrian Kavanagh: Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses

• 2019 Irish local elections
• 2019 elections in the Republic of Ireland
• Council elections in the Republic of Ireland
• May 2019 in Ireland

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