2019 Dublin Mid-West by-election

A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Dublin Mid-West constituency in Ireland on Friday, 29 November 2019, to fill the vacancy left by the election of Fine Gael TD Frances Fitzgerald to the European Parliament.

2019 Dublin Mid-West by-election

← 2016 general election 29 November 2019 2020 general election →
Turnout	19,447 (26.6%)
Nominee Mark Ward Emer Higgins Paul Gogarty Party Sinn Féin Fine Gael Independent First preferences 4,622 3,576 2,435 Percentage 24.0% 18.6% 12.7% Final count 7,669 7,144 -   Timmons Nominee Shane Moynihan Francis Timmons Joanna Tuffy Party Fianna Fáil Independent Labour First preferences 2,264 1,299 1,294 Percentage 11.8% 6.8% 6.7% Final count - - -   Sweeney McNally Nominee Peter Kavanagh Kellie Sweeney Anne-Marie McNally Party Green Solidarity–PBP Social Democrats First preferences 1,222 983 788 Percentage 6.4% 5.1% 4.1% Final count - - -
Dublin Mid-West shown within County Dublin
TD before election Frances Fitzgerald Fine Gael TD Mark Ward Sinn Féin

It was held on the same day as three other by-elections in Cork North-Central, Dublin Fingal and Wexford.^[1] The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011 stipulates that a by-election in Ireland must be held within six months of a vacancy occurring.^[2] The by-election writ was moved in the Dáil on 7 November 2019.^[3][4]

At the 2016 general election, the electorate of Dublin Mid-West was 69,388, and the constituency elected one Sinn Féin TD, one Fine Gael TD, one Fianna Fáil TD, and one AAA–PBP TD.^[5]

The election was won by South Dublin County Councillor Mark Ward of Sinn Féin. Lisa Colman was co-opted to Ward's seat on South Dublin County Council following his election to the Dáil.

Among the candidates were seven South Dublin County Councillors; Paul Gogarty, Emer Higgins, Peter Kavanagh, Shane Moynihan, Francis Timmons, Joanna Tuffy and Mark Ward and former South Dublin County Councillor Ruth Nolan.

This was the first occasion when by-elections were contested by Independents 4 Change (who also contested Dublin Fingal) and the Social Democrats (who also contested Cork North-Central and Dublin Fingal).

Result

2019 Dublin Mid-West by-election

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Sinn Féin	Mark Ward	24.0	4,622	4,729	4,812	5,228	5,426	5,616	6,293	6,652	7,669
	Fine Gael	Emer Higgins	18.6	3,576	3,603	3,703	3,748	3,959	4,362	4,583	5,287	7,144
	Independent	Paul Gogarty	12.7	2,435	2,557	2,680	2,840	3,176	3,731	4,099	5,063
	Fianna Fáil	Shane Moynihan	11.8	2,264	2,304	2,360	2,394	2,564	2,758	2,894
	Independent	Francis Timmons	6.8	1,299	1,365	1,410	1,590	1,807	1,929
	Labour	Joanna Tuffy	6.7	1,294	1,333	1,442	1,547	1,775
	Green	Peter Kavanagh	6.4	1,222	1,268	1,393	1,544
	Solidarity–PBP	Kellie Sweeney	5.1	983	1,138	1,281
	Social Democrats	Anne-Marie McNally	4.1	788	845
	Workers' Party	David Gardiner	1.6	317
	Inds. 4 Change	Ruth Nolan	1.4	271
	Independent	Charlie Keddy	0.5	95
	Independent	Peter Madden	0.4	71
Electorate: 73,152   Valid: 19,237   Spoilt: 210 (0.3%)   Quota: 9,619   Turnout: 19,447 (26.6%)

See also

• List of Dáil by-elections
• Dáil constituencies