1979 Irish local elections

The 1979 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Thursday, 7 June 1979, on the same day as the first direct elections to the European Parliament.

1979 Irish local elections

← 1974 7 June 1979 1985 →
Turnout	63.60% 1.47pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jack Lynch Garret FitzGerald Frank Cluskey Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Leader since 9 November 1966 1977 1977 Seats won 328 292 75 Seat change 24 12 4 Popular vote 529,909 469,074 160,684 Percentage 39.0% 34.6% 11.8% Swing 0.8% 0.8% 0.9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Tomás Mac Giolla Neil Blaney Party Sinn Féin (Provisional) Sinn Féin The Workers' Party Independent Fianna Fáil Leader since October 1970 14 October 1962 1972 Seats won 11 7 4 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 21,273 31,238 10,245 Percentage 1.6% 2.3% 0.8% Swing 0.2% 1.0% 0.2%

Results

Total seats

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%[1]	±%
	Fianna Fáil	328	24	529,909	39.0	0.8
	Fine Gael	292	12	469,074	34.6	0.9
	Labour	75	4	160,684	11.8	0.9
	Sinn Féin (Provisional)[a]	11	4	21,273	1.6	0.2
	Sinn Féin The Workers' Party	7	1	31,238	2.3	1.0
	Independent Fianna Fáil	4		10,245	0.8	0.2
	Protestant Association	2		1,912	0.1	0.1
	Donegal Progressive Party	1		1,728	0.1	New
	Independent Socialist Party	1	1	675	0.0	New
	Independent	48	25	120,166	8.5	0.5
Total				1,421,494	100	—

Counties and cities

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		SF (P)		SFWP		Other	Total
Carlow	8		9		3						1		21
Cavan	12		11				1				1		25
Clare	17		9		2		1				2		31
Cork City	13		12		4				1		1		31
Cork County	23		18		3				1		2		47
Donegal	10		6		5		1		1		5 [b]		23
Dublin City	12		15		11				1		6 [c]		45
Dublin	12		14		9						1		36
Galway	14		11		1		2				2		30
Kerry	14		7		2		1				2		26
Kildare	9		8		4								21
Kilkenny	11		10		4				1				26
Laois	11		12		2								25
Leitrim	11		9				1						21
Limerick City	6		5		4						2		17
Limerick County	15		11								1		27
Longford	8		9				2				2		21
Louth	10		8		2		1		1		4		26
Mayo	15		16										31
Meath	13		9		5						2		29
Monaghan	9		8								3 [d]		20
Offaly	10		9		1						1		21
Roscommon	12		12				1				1		26
Sligo	10		11		1						2		24
Tipperary North	8		8		4						1		21
Tipperary South	11		8		4						3		26
Waterford City	5		4		2				2		2		15
Waterford County	9		11		1								21
Westmeath	10		9		3						1		23
Wexford	10		7		2						2		21
Wicklow	7		8		4				1		1		21

Notes

1. Not a registered party.
2. Includes 1 member of the Donegal Progressive Party.
3. Five of the six non-party members of Dublin Corporation were elected as Community candidates, including Tony Gregory, Seán Dublin Bay Loftus and Carmencita Hederman.
4. Two of the three non-party Monaghan councillors were nominated by the Protestant Association.^[2]

Boroughs

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		PSF		SFWP		Other	Total
Clonmel	4		4		3						1		12
Drogheda	3		2		3						4		12
Dún Laoghaire	3		8		4								15
Galway	5		1		1						5		12
Kilkenny	4		3		3						2		12
Sligo	3		4		2						3		12
Wexford	3		1		2		1				5		12