2019 Galway County Council election

An election to all 39 seats on Galway County Council was held on 24 May 2019 as part of the 2019 Irish local elections. County Galway was divided into 7 local electoral areas (LEAs) to elect councillors for a five-year term of office on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

2019 Galway County Council election

← 2014 24 May 2019 2024 →
All 39 seats on Galway County Council 20 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Sinn Féin Seats won 15 11 1 Seat change 3 1 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Green Republican Sinn Féin Independent Seats won 1 1[a] 10 Seat change 1 1
Results by local electoral area

Boundary changes

Following a recommendation of the 2018 Boundary Committee, the boundaries of the LEAs were altered from those used in the 2014 elections. Its terms of reference required no change in the total number of councillors but set a maximum LEA size of seven councillors, which three of the 2014 LEAs exceeded. Other changes were necessitated by population shifts revealed by the 2016 census.^[1][2]

Overview

Fianna Fáil had a very good election, winning 3 additional seats and increasing their vote by over 5%. Fine Gael lost a seat to fall to 11 but also increased their vote. The Greens gained 1 seat in Conamara and Republican Sinn Féin retained their single seat. Sinn Féin lost 2 seats to be reduced to just 1 member. However, Gabe Cronelly who had quit the party since 2014 was re-elected as an independent.

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	15	3	25,369	32.80	5.40
	Fine Gael	11	1	23,869	30.86	3.26
	Sinn Féin	1	2	3,721	4.81	2.69
	Green	1	1	1,482	1.92	New
	Republican Sinn Féin	1[a]		971	1.26	0.14
	Aontú	0		1,128	1.46	New
	Renua	0		505	0.65	New
	Inds. 4 Change	0		429	0.55	New
	Social Democrats	0		407	0.53	New
	Labour	0		206	0.27	3.23
	Independent	10	1	19,262	24.90	4.50
Total		39		77,349	100.00

Results by local electoral area

^ *: Outgoing councillor elected in 2014.
^ †: Outgoing councillor coopted subsequent to the 2014 election.

Athenry–Oranmore

Athenry–Oranmore: 7 seats^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Independent	James Charity[*]	14.32%	1,792
	Fianna Fáil	Albert Dolan	13.74%	1,720
	Independent	Jim Cuddy[*]	11.64%	1,457	1,530	1,540	1,630
	Independent	Gabe Cronnelly[*]	9.80%	1,226	1,235	1,253	1,280	1,289	1,418	1,512	1,547	1,800
	Fine Gael	David Collins	9.29%	1,163	1,182	1,203	1,216	1,219	1,250	1,295	1,413	1,560	1,596
	Fine Gael	Liam Carroll	7.07%	885	899	904	926	926	956	1,003	1,041	1,186	1,224
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Hannon	6.02%	753	785	810	820	830	853	864
	Fianna Fáil	Shelly Herterich Quinn	5.95%	745	750	788	820	824	853	916	1,141	1,326	1,404
	Fine Gael	Helen Jennings	5.86%	734	738	749	792	793	842	910	933
	Independent	Josette Farrell	5.17%	647	664	667	696	710	750	886	1,105	1,138	1,148
	Sinn Féin	Louis O'Hara	4.05%	507	519	535	555	556
	Green	Kenneth Keavey	3.97%	497	528	532	591	595	679
	Labour	Marian Spelman	1.65%	206	213	216
	Renua	Amanda McManus	1.46%	183	187	188
Electorate: 23,796   Valid: 12,515   Spoilt: 202   Quota: 1,565   Turnout: 12,717 (53.44%)

Ballinasloe

Ballinasloe: 6 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Tim Broderick[*]	17.83%	2,362
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Connolly[*]	16.36%	2,168
	Fine Gael	Peter Keaveney[*]	12.32%	1,632	1,651	1,691	1,698	1,794	1,807	1,831	1,898
	Independent	Declan Geraghty	11.63%	1,541	1,580	1,626	1,637	1,722	1,741	1,778	1,808
	Sinn Féin	Dermot Connolly[*]	10.47%	1,387	1,500	1,519	1,603	1,614	1,748	1,932
	Independent	Aisling Dolan[b]	8.17%	1,082	1,142	1,160	1,259	1,275	1,422	1,571	1,841
	Fine Gael	Aidan Donohue[*]	6.38%	845	944	980	1,001	1,022	1,059	1,090	1,352
	Fine Gael	Michael Finnerty[*]	5.26%	697	720	733	749	752	784	875
	Fianna Fáil	Mike Kelly	3.86%	511	536	575	609	693	724
	Social Democrats	Ken Campbell	3.07%	407	446	456	496	498
	Independent	Harriett Bruce	2.35%	311	344	354
	Fianna Fáil	Kenneth O'Brien	2.32%	308	326	369	374
Electorate: 23,513   Valid: 13,251   Spoilt: 211   Quota: 1,894   Turnout: 13,462 (57.25%)

Conamara North

Conamara North: 4 seats^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Independent	Thomas Welby[*]	29.42%	2,140
	Fine Gael	Eileen Mannion[*]	19.25%	1,400	1,590
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry King	18.56%	1,350	1,437	1,464
	Fianna Fáil	Seamus Walsh[*]	13.91%	1,012	1,281	1,312	1,363	1,467
	Independent	Josie Conneely	8.59%	625	668	696	749	984
	Sinn Féin	Tom Healy[*]	8.02%	583	644	663	705
	Independent	Críostóir Breathnach	2.24%	163	198	212
Electorate: 13,633   Valid: 7,273   Spoilt: 142   Quota: 1,455   Turnout: 7,415 (54.39%)

Conamara South

Conamara South: 5 seats^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fine Gael	Padraig Mac An Iomaire	15.71%	1,408	1,472	1,535
	Fianna Fáil	Noel Thomas[*]	13.51%	1,211	1,244	1,327	1,515
	Fianna Fáil	Dáithí Ó Cualáin	13.01%	1,166	1,250	1,324	1,408
	Fianna Fáil	Máirtín Lee	11.34%	1,016	1,056	1,124	1,207
	Green	Alastair McKinstry	10.99%	985	1,117	1,216	1,436
	Republican Sinn Féin	Tomás Ó Curraoin[*][a]	10.84%	971	1,117	1,268	1,396
	Fine Gael	Ann Flaherty	9.73%	872	904	992
	Fianna Fáil	MacDara Hosty	7.57%	678	694
	Sinn Féin	Kevin O'Hara	5.68%	509
	Independent	Críostóir Breathnach	1.26%	113
	Independent	Patrick Feeney	0.36%	32
Electorate: 18,232   Valid: 8,961   Spoilt: 203   Quota: 1,494   Turnout: 9,164 (50.26%)

Tomás Ó Curraoin appeared on the ballot as an independent (non-party) but is a member of Republican Sinn Féin and is the sole public representative of that party.

Gort–Kinvara

Gort–Kinvara: 5 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fine Gael	Joe Byrne[*]	27.08%	2,751
	Fine Gael	P. J. Murphy	15.90%	1,615	1,896
	Fianna Fáil	Martina Kinane[*]	14.56%	1,479	1,555	1,569	1,619	1,631	1,680	1,736
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Finnerty[*]	8.05%	818	968	996	1,016	1,141	1,153	1,261	1,354
	Fianna Fáil	Kevin Fahey	7.99%	812	921	935	960	1,036	1,054	1,162	1,275
	Fine Gael	Fionn Kiely	5.88%	597	736	820	846	873	940	994
	Independent	Geraldine Donohue	5.29%	537	623	642	690	777	909	1,095	1,328
	Inds. 4 Change	Cormac MacGowan	4.22%	429	461	466	515	546
	Independent	Hubert Geoghegan	4.01%	407	481	495	557	616	702
	Independent	Declan Diviney	3.84%	390	463	474	501
	Renua	Emma O'Connell	3.17%	322	360	374
Electorate: 17.335   Valid: 10,157   Spoilt: 178   Quota: 1,693   Turnout: 10,335 (59.62%)

Loughrea

Loughrea: 5 seats^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fine Gael	Michael 'Moegie' Maher[*]	20.82%	2,152
	Fine Gael	Jimmy McClearn[*]	19.74%	2,041
	Fianna Fáil	Shane Curley	15.29%	1,581	1,742
	Fianna Fáil	Ivan Canning[†]	15.13%	1,564	1,589	1,747
	Independent	Pat Hynes[*][b]	9.17%	948	1,052	1,101	1,105	1,111	1,190	1,339	1,560
	Fianna Fáil	Pat Flanagan	7.14%	738	814	840	845	853	889	942	1,128
	Aontú	Joe Campbell	6.39%	661	674	727	736	737	774	847
	Sinn Féin	Annemarie Roche	3.21%	332	353	375	378	379	467
	Independent	Eoin Madden	3.11%	321	349	358	360	362
Electorate: 18,729   Valid: 10,338   Spoilt: 165   Quota: 1,724   Turnout: 10,503 (56.08%)

Tuam

Tuam: 7 seats^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fine Gael	Peter Roche[*]	16.36%	2,430
	Fianna Fáil	Joe Sheridan	10.39%	1,544	1,588	1,602	1,649	1,726	1,841	1,846
	Fianna Fáil	Donagh Mark Killilea[*]	10.24%	1,521	1,607	1,636	1,698	1,893
	Fianna Fáil	Mary Hoade[*]	9.80%	1,455	1,487	1,492	1,529	1,553	1,840	1,841
	Fine Gael	Andrew Reddington	9.35%	1,389	1,449	1,454	1,512	1,533	1,689	1,690
	Fine Gael	Tom McHugh[*]	8.47%	1,258	1,376	1,394	1,442	1,509	1,676	1,680
	Fianna Fáil	Colm Keaveney	8.21%	1,219	1,271	1,297	1,458	1,630	1,754	1,761
	Independent	Billy Connelly[†]	7.53%	1,118	1,152	1,165	1,253	1,298
	Independent	Karey McHugh[*]	6.25%	929	1,020	1,067	1,242	1,571	1,806	1,824
	Independent	Shaun Cunniffe[*]	5.80%	862	886	935	1,036
	Aontú	Martin Ward	3.14%	467	477	491
	Sinn Féin	Stíofán De Lundres Ó Dálaigh	2.71%	403	414	438
	Independent	Thomas (T.P.) Niland	1.62%	241	251
	Independent	Dermot Ryan	0.12%	18	19
Electorate: 25,125   Valid: 14,854   Spoilt: 213   Quota: 1,857   Turnout: 15,067 (59.97%)

Footnotes

1. Republican Sinn Féin is not a registered party, so its name is not used on ballot papers or in council proceedings.
2. See change below.

Results by gender

2019 Galway County Council election[10][11] Candidates by gender
Gender	Number of candidates	% of candidates	Elected councillors	% of councillors
Men	63	80.8%	32	82.1%
Women	15	19.2%	7	17.9%
TOTAL	78		39

Changes

Changes in affiliation

Name	LEA	Elected as		New affiliation		Date
Aisling Dolan	Ballinasloe		Independent		Fine Gael	November 2019
Declan Geraghty	Ballinasloe		Independent		Independent Ireland	February 2024
Declan Kelly	Loughrea		Independent		Independent Ireland	March 2024
Noel Thomas	Connemara South		Fianna Fáil		Independent	March 2024
Séamus Walsh	Connemara North		Fianna Fáil		Independent	March 2024
Noel Thomas	Connemara South		Independent		Independent Ireland	April 2024
Séamus Walsh	Connemara North		Independent		Independent Ireland	April 2024
Liam Carroll	Athenry–Oranmore		Fine Gael		Independent	May 2024[12]

Co-options

Party		Outgoing	LEA	Reason	Date	Co-optee
	Fine Gael	Aisling Dolan	Ballinasloe	Nominated by the Taoiseach to the 26th Seanad	June 2020	Evelyn Francis Parsons
	Independent	Pat Hynes	Loughrea	Retirement	November 2021	Declan Kelly

Sources

• "Galway County Council - Local Election candidates". RTÉ. 13 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
• "Local Elections 2019: Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics" (PDF). Government of Ireland. Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG). pp. 112–118. Retrieved 10 June 2020.