2024 Irish local elections

2024 Irish local elections

← 2019 7 June 2024 2029 →
949 County and City Council Seats
Opinion polls
Turnout	49.4%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Micheál Martin Simon Harris Mary Lou McDonald Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Sinn Féin Leader since 26 January 2011 24 March 2024 10 February 2018 Last election 279 255 81 Seats won 248 245 102 Seat change 31 10 21 Popular vote 421,462 421,873 218,620 Percentage 22.9% 23.0% 11.8% Swing 4% 2.66% 2.32%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ivana Bacik Holly Cairns Eamon Ryan Party Labour Social Democrats Green Leader since 24 March 2022 1 March 2023 27 May 2011 Last election 57 19 49 Seats won 56 35 23 Seat change 1 16 26   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   PBP–S Leader Michael Collins Collective leadership Peadar Tóibín Party Independent Ireland PBP–Solidarity Aontú Leader since 10 November 2023 N/A 28 January 2019 Last election New party 11 3 Seats won 23 13 8 Seat change N/A 2 5
Results by counties and cities

The 2024 Irish local elections were held in all local authorities in Ireland on Friday, 7 June 2024. European Parliament elections were held on the same day.^[1] It also included the 2024 Limerick mayoral election, for the first directly elected mayor in Ireland.^[2][3] Each local government area (a city, a county, or a city and county) is divided into local electoral areas (LEAs) where three to seven councillors are elected on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).^[4] This year saw a record number of women standing for election, with 31.4% (682 out of 2,171 candidates) being female.^[5] 26.1% of those elected were women (248 out of 949), a small increase compared to the last elections.^[6] Voter turnout for the elections was 49.4%, the first time less than half of registered voters participated, slightly down from 50.2% in 2019.^[7]

• 5 April: Ministerial order fixing the election date made by Darragh O'Brien, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage^[1]
• 8 May: Date on which posters may be erected
• 7 June: Polling day (7 a.m.–10 p.m.)

On 8 May, Fingal councillor Tania Doyle and her husband, while erecting election posters, were assaulted by a man shouting anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric while an accomplice filmed it. Her husband was left bleeding and knocked to the ground by the assault which also saw Doyle herself punched in the head after she attempted to shield her husband. The assault lasted 15 minutes and only ended when the accomplice pulled the assaulter away from kicking Doyle's husband while on the ground. Doyle stated she feared for their lives and going forward would not be canvassing for the remainder of the election.^[8] The gardaí have stated that they are investigating the matter.^[8]

Concurrently on 8 May, Dublin City Councillor Janet Horner of the Green Party and a colleague claim she was assaulted by a man who said "Dublin 1 is for the far-right". Horner was erecting election posters when she was reportedly confronted by a man who threatened to kill her. She said the man confiscated her posters and struck her when she resisted. Horner contacted the gardaí afterwards and resolved to continue to canvass despite the event.^[9]

In another incident on 8 May, two women placing posters up in the Smithfield area of Dublin for Social Democrats candidate Ellen O'Doherty were threatened with a knife by a man demanding they remove the posters, who was then joined by another man. The women managed to escape when a local woman came from a nearby house and begged the men to stop. The campaigners reported the incident to the gardaí and said they would not canvass in future nor return to the area.^[10][11]

On 15 May Fianna Fáil candidate Suzzie O'Deniyi was canvassing with members of her team in the Caherdavin area of Limerick when a man is alleged to have begun screaming racist and sexist slurs about O'Deniyi at her supporters. The man recorded himself doing so on his phone.^[12] Aaron Daly of Caherdavin, was subsequently arrested by Gardaí, and was charged with two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, contrary to section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, before being released on bail. Daly was ordered to have no contact of any kind with O'Deniyi and to report to gardaí regularly until his trial, which was scheduled for 6 September 2024.^[13] Aaron Daly failed to appear in court when his case was called on 6 September 2024. A bench warrant for his arrest was issued.^[14]

On 17 May, Fine Gael candidate in Artane–Whitehall Linkwinstar Mattathil Mathew and his campaign team were forced to take down posters after they were racially abused and intimidated by a group of men. The perpetrators filmed the incident and posted it to social media.^[15]

On 16 May Tánaiste Micheál Martin denounced the targeting of candidates, noting that the large majority of those targeted were from minority backgrounds. Martin stated the right to run in elections was a pillar of liberal democracy, regardless of background.^[16]

Party		Councillors
		2019 result	Seats at election day	Change
	Fianna Fáil	279	276	3
	Fine Gael	255	254	1
	Sinn Féin	81	81
	Labour	57	55	2
	Green	49	45	4
	Social Democrats	19	22	3
	Independent Ireland	—	13	13
	PBP–Solidarity	11	10	1
	Aontú	3	3
	Inds. 4 Change	3	2	1
	Right to Change	—	2	2
	Rabharta	—	1	1
	Kerry Ind. Alliance	1	1
	Republican Sinn Féin	1	1
	Workers' Party	1	1
	Workers and Unemployed	1	1
	Independent	185	181	4

Party		Candidates	Seats[17]	± vs 2019	1st pref.	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	366	248	31	421,462	22.9	4.00
	Fine Gael	339	245	10	421,873	23.0	2.26
	Sinn Féin	335	102	21	218,620	11.8	2.32
	Labour	109	56	1	97,575	5.3	0.4
	Social Democrats	77	35	16	63,273	3.4	1.1
	Green	129	23	26	66,684	3.6	2.1
	Independent Ireland	61	23	23[a]	51,562	2.8	New
	Aontú	66	8	5	39,461	2.1	0.7
	People Before Profit[b]	45	10	3	22,231	1.2
	The Irish People	57	0	New	13,134	0.7	New
	Wexford Ind. Alliance[c]	12	5	5	10,223	0.6	New
	Irish Freedom	28	1	1	9,500	0.5	New
	100% Redress	6	4	4	7,400	0.4	New
	National Party	15	1	1	4,983	0.3	New
	Solidarity[b]	8	3	1	4,952	0.2
	Inds. 4 Change	2	1	2	3,537	0.2	0.3
	Ireland First	8	0	New	3,165	0.2	New
	Right to Change	2	1	1	2,639	0.1	New
	Workers and Unemployed	2	1		1,887	0.1
	Workers' Party	3	0	1	1,700	0.1
	Kerry Ind. Alliance	1	1		1,574	0.1
	Independent Left	1	1		1,365	0.1
	Rabharta[d]	4	0	New[e]	1,246	0.1	New
	Republican Sinn Féin[c]	1	1		974	0.1
	Glór	1	0	New	559
	Party for Animal Welfare	5	0	New	457		New
	Farmers' Alliance	2	0	New	355		New
	Independent	488	178	7	370,714	20.1
Total		2,172	949	—	1,843,105	—	—

The results were seen as a victory for governing coalition parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and a disappointment for Sinn Féin, which had significantly underperformed its polling despite performing better than in the 2019 elections.^[21][22] Fine Gael credited the results to the resignation of Leo Varadkar, which injected "fresh energy" in the coalition.^[22] The Guardian, who stated that "the local elections were a calamity for Sinn Féin", also reported that some figures within the coalition called on taoiseach Simon Harris to call for a snap election to "seize the momentum."^[22] Harris, Micheál Martin, and Eamon Ryan, rejected calls for an early election.^[22]

Financial Times reported that Sinn Féin did particularly poor because their core demographic, the working-class and youth, increasingly hardened on immigration, and instead voted for independents and far-right parties.^[23] These parties in turn saw an increase in support, with the Irish Freedom Party and National Party seeing their first ever elected officials,^[22][24] though the number of far-right candidates elected remained small.^[24] Independent candidates and the new right-wing Independent Ireland party notably performed well.^[25]

• 2024 Irish general election

• 2024 Local Elections ElectionsIreland.org
• Adrian Kavanagh: Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses