2009 Irish local elections

The 2009 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Friday, 5 June 2009, on the same day as the European Parliament election and two by-elections (Dublin South and Dublin Central).^[1]

2009 Irish local elections

← 2004 5 June 2009 2014 →
883 County and City Council seats; 744 Borough and Town Council seats
Turnout	57.77% 0.87pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Enda Kenny Brian Cowen Eamon Gilmore Party Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Labour Leader since 6 June 2002 7 May 2008 6 September 2007 Percentage 32.2% 25.4% 14.7% Largest Party 24 3 4 Councillors 556 (340 C&C, 216 B&T) 407 (218 C&C, 189 B&T) 231 (132 C&C, 99 B&T) Councillors +/- 88 135 43   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gerry Adams John Gormley Séamus Healy Party Sinn Féin Green Workers and Unemployed Leader since 13 November 1983 17 July 2007 1997 Percentage 7.4% 2.3% 0.2% Largest Party 1 N/A N/A Councillors 127 (54 C&C, 73 B&T) 18 (3 C&C, 15 B&T) 7 (2 C&C, 5 B&T) Councillors +/- 2 14 5

Overview

The election results were significant for a number of reasons:

• Fine Gael gained 88 seats and became the largest party at local level for the first time ever.
• Fianna Fáil lost 135 seats and became the second-largest party nationally, and the third-largest in Dublin.
• The Labour Party increased its seat total by 43 seats, and became the largest party on Dublin City Council. It also held the most seats on the four Dublin local authorities.
• Sinn Féin support remained at almost the same level, gaining 2 seats.
• The Green Party lost 14 seats and had 3 county councillors.
• The People Before Profit Alliance won 5 seats in its first local elections.
• The Socialist Party won 6 seats, a gain of 2 seats.

Results

The total number of the Irish electorate eligible to vote in the election was 3,259,253. A total of 1,880,589 first preference votes were cast, representing a turnout of 57.7%.

The Progressive Democrats and Independent Fianna Fáil did not compete in the elections. As they competed in the previous elections, totals for vote and seat changes may not total zero. People Before Profit Alliance figures are compared to Socialist Workers Party figures from the previous local elections.

All councils

Party		County	City	Borough	Town	Total	±
	Fine Gael	305	35	16	200	556	+88
	Fianna Fáil	201	17	11	178	407	–135
	Labour	94	38	13	86	231	+43
	Sinn Féin	41	13	8	65	127	+2
	Green	3	0	2	13	18	–14
	Workers and Unemployed	2	0	4	1	7	+5
	Socialist Party	3	1	1	1	6	+2
	People Before Profit	3	2	0	0	5	+5
	Workers' Party	0	2	0	0	2	+0
	SKIA	1	0	0	1	2	–
	Letterkenny Residents Party	0	0	0	1	1	New
	Independent	102	22	10	141	275	+10
Total		753	130	60	684	1,627	—

County and city councils

Posters for local and European election candidates and parties, Dublin, May 2009

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Fine Gael	340	+47	605,333	32.2	+4.6
	Fianna Fáil	218	–84	477,342	25.4	–6.4
	Labour	132	+31	276,627	14.7	+3.3
	Sinn Féin	54		138,405	7.4	–0.6
	People Before Profit	5	+5	15,879	0.8	+0.5
	Socialist Party	4		16,052	0.9	+0.2
	Green	3	–15	44,152	2.3	–1.6
	Workers' Party	2		4,771	0.3	+0.1
	Workers and Unemployed	2		3,590	0.2
	SKIA	1		2,536	0.1	—
	Seniors Solidarity	0		1,319	0.1	New
	Christian Solidarity	0		467	0.0	—
	Independent	122	+37	294,094	15.6	+4.5
Total		883	—	1,880,589	—	—

Detailed results

Authority		FG		FF		Lab		SF		PBP		SP		GP		WUA		WP		SKIA		Ind	Total	Details
Carlow	10		4		5																2		21	Details
Cavan	13		8				4																25	Details
Clare	12		11		1								1								7		32	Details
Cork	22		12		7		1														6		48	Details
Cork City	8		6		7		4				1						1				4		31	Details
Donegal	8		10		2		4														5		29	Details
Dublin City	12		6		19		7		2												6		52	Details
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown	11		4		8				2												3		28	Details
Fingal	6		4		9						3										2		24	Details
Galway	13		7		1		1														8[a]		30	Details
Galway City	3		3		5																4		15	Details
Kerry	10		7		4		2												1		3		27	Details
Kildare	9		6		6																4		25	Details
Kilkenny	12		7		5								1								1		26	Details
Laois	12		8		1		1														3		25	Details
Leitrim	10		8				2														2		22	Details
Limerick	15		9		2																2		28	Details
Limerick City	8		1		4		1														3		17	Details
Longford	10		8																		3		21	Details
Louth	8		5		2		6						1								4		26	Details
Mayo	17		7				2														5		31	Details
Meath	11		8		4		1														5		29	Details
Monaghan	6		5				7														2		20	Details
North Tipperary	4		6		3		1														7[b]		21	Details
Offaly	6		9																		6		21	Details
Roscommon	10		8				1														7		26	Details
Sligo	12		7		2		1														3		25	Details
South Dublin	8		4		9		3		1												1		26	Details
South Tipperary	12		6		3										2						3		26	Details
Waterford	11		5		4		2														1		23	Details
Waterford City	4		1		3		1										1				5		15	Details
Westmeath	8		9		6																		23	Details
Wexford	10		5		4																2		21	Details
Wicklow	9		4		6		2														3		24	Details
Total	340		218		132		54		5		4		3		2		2		1		122		883

Following the June 2009 local elections Fine Gael were the largest political party on 24 councils, the Labour Party on 4 councils, Fianna Fáil on 3 councils, Independents on 2 councils and Sinn Féin on 1 council.

Borough and town councils

Party		Seats	±
	Fine Gael	216	44
	Fianna Fáil	189	53
	Labour	99	12
	Sinn Féin	73	2
	Green	15	1
	Workers and Unemployed	5
	SKIA	1
	Letterkenny Residents Party	1	1
	Independent	144	7

Detailed results

The five councils with the status of borough councils are marked as BC. All others are town councils.

Town		FG		Lab		FF		SF		GP		WUA		SKIA		Oth	Total
Ardee	2		2		1		1		1						2		9
Arklow	3		1		2										3		9
Athlone	3		3		1		1								1		9
Athy	1		2		4		1								1		9
Balbriggan	1		1		3				1						3		9
Ballina	3		3												3		9
Ballinasloe	2		3				1								3		9
Ballybay	4		4				1										9
Ballyshannon	2		5				1								1		9
Bandon	4		3		1		1										9
Bantry	5		3												1		9
Belturbet	1		3												5		9
Birr	4		2												3		9
Boyle	2		4				1								2		9
Bray	2		3		3		2		1						1		12
Buncrana	2		3				2								2		9
Bundoran	3		2				2								2		9
Carlow	3		3		1		1								1		9
Carrickmacross	2		3				2		2								9
Carrick-on-Suir	2		1		1		1				1				3		9
Cashel	2		2				1								4		9
Castlebar	1		4		1		1								2		9
Castleblayney	3		2				3								1		9
Cavan	3		4		1		1										9
Clonakilty	2		2		1		1								3		9
Clones	2		2				3								2		9
Clonmel BC	2		2		2						4				2		12
Cobh	1		2		3		1								2		9
Cootehill	3		3				2								1		9
Drogheda BC	4		2		1		3								2		12
Dundalk	3		2				3		2						2		12
Dungarvan	2		3		3		1										9
Edenderry	3		2		1										3		9
Ennis	1		3		1				1						3		9
Enniscorthy	2		2		1		1								3		9
Fermoy	2		2		2		1								2		9
Gorey	4		4		1												9
Granard	3		2		1										3		9
Greystones	2		4		2										1		9
Kells	3		2		2		1								1		9
Kilkee	4		4												1		9
Kilkenny BC	4		2		4		1		1								12
Killarney	2		1		2								1		3		9
Kilrush	3		3												3		9
Kinsale	2		2		2		1		1						1		9
Leixlip	1		3		2				1						2		9
Letterkenny	4		1				1								3		9
Lismore	3		3		1										2		9
Listowel	3		4				2										9
Longford	2		3												4		9
Loughrea	3		2												4		9
Macroom	3		4		2												9
Mallow	1		2		4		1								1		9
Midleton	1		2		1		1								4		9
Monaghan	1		3				4								1		9
Mountmellick	3		3		1		1								1		9
Muine Bheag	3		3		2										1		9
Mullingar	3		2		4												9
Naas	1		3		2										3		9
Navan	4		2				2								1		9
Nenagh	2		2		2		1								2		9
Newbridge	2		2		2										3		9
New Ross	3		2		2		1[c]		1								9
Passage West	2		3				1								3		9
Portlaoise	2		3				2								2		9
Shannon			4		2		1								2		9
Skibbereen	2		4		2		1										9
Sligo BC	3		3		2		3								1
Templemore	3		3												3[b]		9
Thurles	1		1		2		1								4[b]		9
Tipperary	3		1		1										4		9
Tralee	2		3		3		2								1		12
Tramore	1		4		1										3		9
Trim	2		3		2										2		9
Tuam	3		2		2										2		9
Tullamore	4		2		2		1										9
Westport	2		5		1										1		9
Wexford BC	3		4		2		1		1						1		12
Wicklow	1		3		1		1		1						2		9
Youghal	3		2		1		2		1								9
Total	216		189		99		73		15		5		1		145		744

Footnotes

1. Includes Tomás Ó Curraoin of Republican Sinn Féin, which is an unregistered party.
2. Michael Lowry's organisation has 4 County Councillors in North Tipperary, 2 Town Councillors in Thurles and 1 Town Councillor in Templemore.
3. John Dwyer resigned from Sinn Féin and changed designation to Non-Party before the first meeting of New Ross Town Council.