2019 Cork City Council election

An election to all 31 seats on Cork City Council was held in Cork city in Ireland on 24 May 2019 as part of that year's local elections.^[1] Councillors were elected from five local electoral areas (LEAs) on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). This election coincided with an increase in the city area.^[2] Several outgoing members of Cork County Council, based in areas transferred to the city, stood for election to the city council. As well as the extension of all LEAs into the former county area, the former LEA of North Central was abolished and its area divided between North West and North East.^[3][4]

2019 Cork City Council election

← 2014 24 May 2019 2024 →
All 31 seats on Cork City Council 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Green Seats won 8 7 4 Seat change 2 2 4   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Sinn Féin Labour Solidarity Seats won 4 1 1 Seat change 4 1 2   Seventh party Eighth party   Party Workers' Party Independent Seats won 1 5 Seat change 1
Results by Local Electoral Area

On the same day, a plebiscite was held under the Local Government Act 2019 on whether Cork City should have a directly elected executive mayor.^[5] Voters rejected the proposal in favour of retaining the existing ceremonial Lord Mayor of Cork, chosen annually by the councillors from among their number.^[6]

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	8	2	16,474	24.52	0.53
	Fine Gael	7	2	13,834	20.59	1.63
	Sinn Féin	4	4	8,082	12.03	11.96
	Green	4	4	6,890	10.25	7.27
	Labour	1	1	3,773	5.62	0.33
	Solidarity	1	2	1,574	2.34	3.52
	Workers' Party	1		1,182	1.76	1.28
	Social Democrats	0		1,906	2.84	New
	Aontú	0		1,593	2.37	New
	HRRA	0		1,462	2.18	New
	People Before Profit	0		559	0.83	New
	Independent	5	1	9,863	14.68	0.37
Totals		31		67,192	100.00

Results by local electoral area

^ *: Outgoing councillor elected in 2014 for the same LEA.
^ †: Outgoing councillor elected in 2014 for Cork City North Central LEA.
^ ‡: Outgoing councillor elected in 2014 for Cork City North East LEA.
^ §: Outgoing councillor elected in 2014 to Cork County Council.
^ ※: Outgoing councillor coopted for the same LEA subsequent to the 2014 election.
^ ◊: Outgoing councillor for Cork County Council, coopted subsequent to the 2014 election.

Cork City North East

Cork City North East: 6 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Fianna Fáil	Ken O'Flynn[†][a]	12.75%	1,710	1,718	1,725	1,733	1,741	1,807	1,841	1,931
	Labour	John Daniel Maher	10.03%	1,345	1,345	1,363	1,378	1,410	1,459	1,559	1,667	1,834	1,985
	Independent	Ger Keohane[§]	9.54%	1,279	1,287	1,298	1,308	1,320	1,342	1,382	1,425	1,513	1,709
	Fine Gael	Joe Kavanagh[*]	9.35%	1,254	1,258	1,262	1,264	1,275	1,309	1,323	1,341	1,383	1,756
	Green	Oliver Moran	8.80%	1,180	1,184	1,210	1,216	1,307	1,324	1,482	1,540	1,628	1,739
	Fianna Fáil	Tim Brosnan[*]	7.81%	1,048	1,050	1,057	1,064	1,069	1,232	1,267	1,290	1,356	1,441
	Fine Gael	Lorraine O'Neill	7.81%	1,047	1,055	1,059	1,072	1,089	1,110	1,125	1,144	1,178
	Workers' Party	Ted Tynan[*]	7.69%	1,031	1,038	1,070	1,088	1,110	1,141	1,314	1,532	1,764	1,817
	Independent	Noreen Murphy	6.08%	815	819	844	862	879	895	996	1,079
	Solidarity	Carol Brogan	5.14%	689	690	722	726	810	822
	Sinn Féin	Mick Nugent[‡]	4.98%	668	668	674	818	826	844	910
	Fianna Fáil	Martin Dorgan	3.60%	483	485	485	487	487
	Social Democrats	Sinéad Halpin	2.30%	309	309	320	327
	Sinn Féin	Mandy O'Leary Hegarty	1.99%	267	268	272
	Independent	Mobolaji Taiwo Ajisafe	0.92%	123	123
	HRRA	Risteárd Ó Glaimhín	0.77%	103	104
	Independent	Sean Patrick O'Sullivan	0.45%	60
Electorate: 30,910   Valid: 13,411   Spoilt: 287   Quota: 1,916   Turnout: 44.32%

Cork City North West

Cork City North West: 6 seats^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	Fianna Fáil	Tony Fitzgerald[*]	14.11%	1,662	1,664	1,671	1,676	1,684
	Sinn Féin	Thomas Gould[†][a]	11.91%	1,402	1,409	1,426	1,499	1,518	1,563	1,596	1,654	1,700
	Sinn Féin	Kenneth Collins[*]	9.74%	1,147	1,154	1,178	1,209	1,217	1,253	1,276	1,319	1,361	1,425	1,456	1,512
	Fine Gael	Damian Boylan	8.99%	1,059	1,059	1,059	1,063	1,069	1,071	1,089	1,119	1,175	1,227	1,285	1,452
	Fianna Fáil	John Sheehan[†]	8.69%	1,023	1,023	1,025	1,035	1,035	1,047	1,087	1,271	1,310	1,370	1,432	1,570
	Solidarity	Fiona Ryan[※][a]	7.52%	885	887	915	930	985	1,017	1,050	1,073	1,134	1,182	1,400	1,482
	Fine Gael	Julie O'Leary	5.95%	701	701	702	703	709	713	732	764	836	876	1,019	1,136
	Green	Mark Cronin	4.78%	563	567	579	580	592	595	612	637	755	782
	Independent	Kevin Conway[§]	4.55%	536	569	578	583	594	602	669	712	747	877	925
	Labour	Luke Carroll	4.48%	528	532	538	542	548	558	576	594
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Coleman	4.47%	526	529	536	539	541	546	565
	Independent	Joe O'Callaghan	4.04%	476	482	485	491	502	527	586	606	637
	Aontú	Finian Toomey	3.75%	442	444	445	454	467	488
	Independent	Timothy J. Hogan	1.77%	208	219	234	237	246
	Sinn Féin	John Paul Stanton	1.56%	184	184	185
	HRRA	Martina Murphy	1.49%	175	178	190	192
	Workers' Party	Catherine Coffey	1.28%	151	159
	Independent	Sandra Condon	0.92%	108
Electorate: 28,571   Valid: 11,776   Spoilt: 324   Quota: 1,683   Turnout: 42.35%

Cork City South Central

Cork City South Central: 6 seats^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
	Independent	Mick Finn[*]	16.56%	1,753
	Green	Dan Boyle	13.75%	1,456	1,485	1,495	1,509	1,523
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Martin[*]	13.06%	1,383	1,421	1,430	1,437	1,443	1,448	1,457	1,481	1,547
	Fine Gael	Shane O'Callaghan	11.66%	1,234	1,250	1,250	1,253	1,256	1,276	1,282	1,313	1,346	1,450	1,775
	Sinn Féin	Eoghan Jeffers	7.34%	777	789	792	794	797	801	816	834	862	923	1,009	1,053	1,056	1,057
	Fianna Fáil	David Boyle	7.26%	769	779	779	779	780	790	794	808	828	872
	Sinn Féin	Fiona Kerins[*]	6.64%	703	732	737	745	761	777	793	868	929	1,014	1,049	1,062	1,066	1,070
	Independent	Paudie Dineen[*]	5.21%	552	597	603	615	626	640	699	731	846	935	1,016	1,058	1,069	1,071
	Labour	Luke Field	4.34%	459	472	475	479	483	513	535	634	672
	Independent	Ciaran Kenneally	4.03%	427	443	449	457	474	491	551	586
	Social Democrats	Patricia O'Dwyer	3.40%	360	367	371	384	401	430	443
	Independent	Seán Cronin	1.97%	209	220	226	232	249	271
	Independent	Lekha Menon Margassery	1.88%	199	202	207	214	222
	HRRA	Michael Mohally	1.19%	126	129	134	142
	Independent	Graham O'Shea	0.88%	93	97	112
	Independent	Suzanne Hegarty	0.43%	45	48
	Independent	Maurice Joseph Sexton	0.40%	42	43
Exhausted ballots			—	—	0	14	34	59	114	181	296	521	810	1,155	1,318	1,334	1,337
Electorate: 24,408   Valid: 10,587   Spoilt: 306   Quota: 1,513   Turnout: 44.6%

Cork City South East

Cork City South East: 6 seats^[10]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fine Gael	Des Cahill[*]	14.42%	2,275
	Green	Lorna Bogue[a]	13.99%	2,207	2,265
	Fianna Fáil	Mary Rose Desmond	13.32%	2,102	2,108	2,111	2,139	2,167	2.294
	Fianna Fáil	Terry Shannon[*]	12.52%	1,976	1,980	1,983	2,051	2,094	2,155	2,167	2,328
	Independent	Kieran McCarthy[*]	10.82%	1,708	1,731	1,734	1,889	2,038	2,208	2,216	2,552
	Fine Gael	Deirdre Forde	10.06%	1,588	1,597	1,605	1,634	1,662	1,777	1,787	1,926
	Sinn Féin	Chris O'Leary[*]	6.99%	1,103	1,129	1,129	1,158	1,273	1,387	1,391	1,518
	Labour	Peter Horgan	5.63%	888	899	901	921	956	1,029	1,034
	Social Democrats	Joe Harris	4.34%	685	718	718	748	816
	Aontú	Anna Daly	3.16%	498	509	510
	HRRA	Diarmaid Ó Cadhla[◊]	3.14%	496	534	534	581
	People Before Profit	Ed Fitzgerald	1.62%	255
Electorate: 32,358   Valid: 15,781   Spoilt: 326   Quota: 2,255   Turnout: 49.78%

Cork City South West

Cork City South West: 7 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
	Fine Gael	Derry Canty[§]	12.03%	1,881	1,894	1,898	1,915	1,946	2,033
	Fianna Fáil	Fergal Dennehy[*]	11.66%	1,823	1,835	1,840	1,870	1,921	2,055
	Green	Colette Finn	9.49%	1,484	1,501	1,582	1,630	1,765	1,796	1,805	1,815	2,042
	Fianna Fáil	Colm Kelleher	8.56%	1,339	1,352	1,360	1,370	1,397	1,637	1,702	1,731	1,793	1,806	1,896	1,989
	Fine Gael	Garret Kelleher	8.35%	1,306	1,319	1,323	1,335	1,354	1,401	1,413	1,420	1,480	1,493	1,540	1,713	1,786
	Independent	Thomas Moloney[*]	7.51%	1,174	1,192	1,211	1,302	1,350	1,361	1,362	1,362	1,418	1,430	1,599	1,689	1,774
	Sinn Féin	Henry Cremin[*][a]	6.68%	1,045	1,049	1,064	1,106	1,129	1,139	1,142	1,144	1,167	1,178	1,202	1,236	1,755
	Sinn Féin	Eolan Ryng	5.03%	786	795	814	852	869	892	894	901	958	969	1,011	1,042
	Fine Gael	Sinéad Ronan	4.85%	758	764	768	792	873	879	879	880	920	930	964	1,208	1,275
	Fine Gael	P.J. Hourican[*]	4.67%	731	732	735	747	766	776	779	782	806	813	836
	Aontú	Joanne Murphy	4.18%	653	665	673	697	711	719	721	723	768	778
	Fianna Fáil	Shane Fallon	4.03%	630	636	641	644	654
	Labour	Ciara Kennedy	3.54%	553	567	583	610
	Social Democrats	Ciarán McCarthy	3.53%	552	557	589	632	695	708	711	716
	HRRA	Thomas Kiely	2.48%	388	439	499
	People Before Profit	Tjitske De Vries	1.94%	304	324
	HRRA	Shirley Griffin	1.11%	174
	Independent	Artur Górnik	0.36%	56
Electorate: 34,436   Valid: 15,637   Spoilt: 373   Quota: 1,955   Turnout: 46.49%

Footnotes

1. Change since the 2019 election, see below.

Results by gender

2019 Cork City Council election[12][13] Candidates by gender
Gender	Number of candidates	% of candidates	Elected councillors	% of councillors
Men	58	70.7%	25	80.6%
Women	24	29.3%	6	19.4%
TOTAL	82		31

Plebiscite

2019 Cork City Council mayoral plebiscite^[14][6]

Choice	Votes	%
No	34,347	50.7
Yes	33,364	49.3
Valid votes	67,711	98.6
Invalid or blank votes	971	1.4
Total votes	68,682	100.00

Changes

Co-options

Party		Outgoing	LEA	Reason	Date	Co-optee
	Sinn Féin	Thomas Gould	Cork City North West	Elected to the 33rd Dáil[15]	February 2020	Mick Nugent[16]
	Sinn Féin	Henry Cremin	Cork City South West	Retirement[17]	June 2021	Eolan Ryng[18]
	PBP–Solidarity	Fiona Ryan	Cork City North West	Resigned for health reasons[19]	June 2023	Brian McCarthy
	Sinn Féin	Eolan Ryng	Cork City South West	Resignation[20]	13 November 2023	Orla O'Leary[21]

Changes in affiliation

Name	LEA	Elected as		New affiliation		Date
Ken O'Flynn	Cork City North East		Fianna Fáil		Independent	January 2020[22]
Lorna Bogue	Cork South East		Green		Independent	October 2020[23]
Lorna Bogue	Cork South East		Independent		Rabharta	June 2021[24]
Ken O'Flynn	Cork City North East		Independent		Independent Ireland	March 2024

See also

• 2019 Cork North-Central by-election, on 28 November; seven of the candidates had run in the city council elections

Sources

• "Local Elections 2019: Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics" (PDF). Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG). pp. 14–23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
• Loughlin, Elaine (30 April 2019). "Local elections — Cork City South Central: It's too tough to call in Cork's 'constituency of death'". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
• O'Neill, Kevin (29 April 2019). "Local elections — Cork City North East: SF looking to make most of change; Labour hopeful of recovery". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
• O'Neill, Kevin (1 May 2019). "Local elections — Cork City North West: Rural influx changes constituency profile". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
• O'Neill, Kevin (2 May 2019). "Local elections — Cork City South West: Constituency thrown open by boundary extensions and candidate withdrawals". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
• O'Neill, Kevin (3 May 2019). "Local elections — Cork City South East: Revamped electoral area covers huge geographical spread". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
• "Cork City Council - The Results". Irish Examiner. 15 May 2019. Archived from the original on 30 May 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2019.