Lower Falls (District Electoral Area)

Lower Falls was one of the nine district electoral areas which existed in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 1985 to 2014. Located in the west of the city, the district elected five members to Belfast City Council and contained the wards of Beechmount; Clonard; Falls; Upper Springfield; and Whiterock. Lower Falls formed part of the Belfast West constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament. The district, along with the neighbouring Upper Falls district took its name from the Falls Road, one of the main arterial routes in the west of the city.

Lower Falls District Electoral Area
Map showing Lower Falls wards within Belfast
Population	(2008 Estimate)
District	Belfast City Council
County	County Antrim
Country	Northern Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
UK Parliament	Belfast West
NI Assembly	Belfast West
List of places UK Northern Ireland Antrim

History

Lower Falls was created for the 1985 local elections. The Falls and Clonard wards had previously been in Area F, with the remaining wards part of Area D. It was abolished for the 2014 local elections. The Falls and Clonard wards joined the Court District Electoral Area, while the remaining wards became part of a new Black Mountain District Electoral Area.

Wards

Map	Ward	Population (2011 Census)	Catholic	Protestant	Other	No religion	Area	Density	NI Assembly	UK Parliament	Ref
1	Beechmount	5,485	90.8%	6.1%	0.6%	2.5%	0.84 km2	6,530/km2	Belfast West	Belfast West	[1]
2	Clonard	4,975	90.5%	6.4%	0.6%	2.6%	0.61 km2	8,156/km2	Belfast West	Belfast West	[2]
3	Falls	5,184	87.6%	7.5%	2.3%	2.6%	1.2 km2	4,320/km2	Belfast West	Belfast West	[3]
4	Upper Springfield	5,250	93.5%	4.6%	0.3%	1.6%	2.5 km2	2,100/km2	Belfast West	Belfast West	[4]
5	Whiterock	5,694	93.1%	4.7%	0.3%	1.8%	0.78 km2	7,300/km2	Belfast West	Belfast West	[5]
Lower Falls		26,588	91.1%	5.8%	0.3%	1.8%	5.93 km2	4,484 /km2	Belfast West	Belfast West

Councillors

Election	Councillor (party)		Councillor (party)		Councillor (party)		Councillor (party)		Councillor (party)
2011		Tom Hartley (Sinn Féin)		Jim McVeigh (Sinn Féin)		Steven Corr (Sinn Féin)		Janice Austin (Sinn Féin)		Colin Keenan (SDLP)
2005				Marie Moore (Sinn Féin)		Máire Cush (Sinn Féin)				Fra McCann (Sinn Féin)
2001								Margaret Walsh (SDLP)
1997						Seán McKnight (Sinn Féin)
1993						Mary Muldoon (SDLP)		Patsy McGeown (Sinn Féin)
1989		Elizabeth Fitzsimons (Sinn Féin)		Seán McKnight (Sinn Féin)				Joe Hendron (SDLP)
1985						Seán Keenan (Sinn Féin)				Will Glendinning (Alliance)

2011 election

2005: 5 x Sinn Féin

2011: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

2005-2011 change: SDLP gain from Sinn Féin

Lower Falls - 5 seats^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Sinn Féin	Janice Austin*	19.66%	1,920
	Sinn Féin	Steven Corr	16.10%	1,572	1,583.85	1,603.85	1,618	1,677
	Sinn Féin	Tom Hartley*	15.99%	1,561	1,566.1	1,581.1	1,602.25	1,666.25
	Sinn Féin	Jim McVeigh	15.33%	1,497	1,499.7	1,531	1,544.15	1,600.45
	SDLP	Colin Keenan	10.24%	1,000	1,003.15	1,058.15	1,214.15	1,326.15
	Sinn Féin	Breige Brownlee	8.33%	813	1,070.7	1,109	1,123	1,188.3
	éirígí	John McCusker	6.63%	647	647.6	723.6	748.6
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	4.08%	398	398.45	430.45
	Irish Republican Socialist	Jim Gorman	2.14%	209	209.75
	Socialist Party	Pat Lawlor	1.52%	148	148.5
Electorate: 17,238   Valid: 9,765 (56.65%)   Spoilt: 305   Quota: 1,628   Turnout: 10,070 (58.42%)

2005 election

2001: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

2005: 5 x Sinn Féin

2001-2005 change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Lower Falls - 5 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Sinn Féin	Janice Austin	19.42%	2,071
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann*	19.17%	2,045
	Sinn Féin	Tom Hartley*	18.39%	1,962
	Sinn Féin	Máire Cush*	15.33%	1,764	1,797
	Sinn Féin	Marie Moore*	11.67%	1,245	1,253	1,528.1	1,764.42
	SDLP	Margaret Walsh*	11.86%	1,265	1,439	1,449.95	1,476.27
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	2.94%	314
Electorate: 16,334   Valid: 10,666 (65.30%)   Spoilt: 392   Quota: 1,778   Turnout: 11,058 (67.70%)

2001 election

1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

2001: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

1997-2001 change: No change

Lower Falls - 5 seats^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann*	18.97%	2,399
	Sinn Féin	Tom Hartley*	18.59%	2,351
	Sinn Féin	Máire Cush	17.63%	2,230
	SDLP	Margaret Walsh*	15.94%	2,016	2,262
	Sinn Féin	Marie Moore*	15.16%	1,917	1,928	1,955.17	1,977.94	1,996.94
	Sinn Féin	Sean McKnight*	9.86%	1,247	1,272	1,521.99	1,735.83	1,761.83
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	3.86%	488
Electorate: 18,349   Valid: 12,648 (68.93%)   Spoilt: 581   Quota: 2,109   Turnout: 13,229 (72.10%)

1997 election

1993: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

1993-1997 change: No change

Lower Falls - 5 seats^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann*	19.65%	2,420
	Sinn Féin	Sean McKnight	18.56%	2,286
	SDLP	Margaret Walsh	14.32%	1,764	1,775.4	2,248.7
	Sinn Féin	Tom Hartley*	16.42%	2,022	2,047.05	2,061.05
	Sinn Féin	Marie Moore*	14.70%	1,810	1,822.15	1,829.15	2,033.65
	Sinn Féin	Janice Austin	10.34%	1,274	1,581.35	1,606.25	1,625.75
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	3.80%	468	468.75
	SDLP	Mary White	1.84%	227	227.9
	Alliance	Keith Jacques	0.37%	45	45.3
Electorate: 19,372   Valid: 12,316 (63.58%)   Spoilt: 390   Quota: 2,053   Turnout: 12,706 (65.59%)

1993 election

1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP

1993: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

1989-1993 change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Lower Falls - 5 seats^[10]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Sinn Féin	Tom Hartley	19.79%	2,573
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann*	18.40%	2,393
	Sinn Féin	Patrick McGeown	18.09%	2,352
	Sinn Féin	Marie Moore	14.97%	1,946	2,316.77
	SDLP	Mary Muldoon*	13.45%	1,749	1,760.39	1,832.92	1,929.38	2,030.98	2,325.98
	SDLP	Margaret Walsh	7.59%	987	991.93	1,049.44	1,134.77	1,165.97	1,306.48
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	6.11%	794	804.37	831.54	874.47	924.07
	Alliance	Patrick Woods	0.83%	108	109.87
	Democratic Left	Mary McMahon	0.78%	101	105.24
Electorate: 19,978   Valid: 13,003 (65.09%)   Spoilt: 509   Quota: 2,168   Turnout: 13,512 (67.63%)

1989 election

1985: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance

1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP

1985-1989 change: SDLP gain from Alliance

Lower Falls - 5 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SDLP	Joe Hendron*	23.51%	2,748
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann	19.73%	2,307
	Sinn Féin	Elizabeth Fitzsimons*	15.10%	1,765	1,786.7	1,816.25	1,849.69	1,885.5
	Sinn Féin	Sean McKnight*	12.22%	1,428	1,461.48	1,466.72	1,750.56	1,774.62
	SDLP	Mary Muldoon	5.03%	588	1,196.84	1,257.51	1,261.19	1,738.98
	Sinn Féin	Richard May	13.91%	1,626	1,634.68	1,637.68	1,651.92	1,679.45
	Workers' Party	Mary McMahon	9.35%	1,093	1,186	1,218.75	1,224.19
	Alliance	Derrick Crothers	1.15%	135	164.45
Electorate: 20,095   Valid: 11,690 (58.17%)   Spoilt: 570   Quota: 1,949   Turnout: 12,260 (61.01%)

1985 election

1985: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance

Lower Falls - 5 seats^[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	SDLP	Joe Hendron*	22.06%	2,606
	Sinn Féin	Sean McKnight	16.41%	1,939	1,963	1,985.4
	Alliance	Will Glendinning*	9.42%	1,113	1,195	1,549.48	2,015.48
	Sinn Féin	Sean Keenan	14.83%	1,752	1,764	1,795.36	1,845.2
	Sinn Féin	Elizabeth Fitzsimons	13.50%	1,595	1,609	1,649.6	1,697.4
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann	12.42%	1,467	1,472	1,499.44	1,552.4
	Workers' Party	Mary McMahon	9.44%	1,115	1,168	1,312.2
	SDLP	Sean Mullan	1.35%	159
	Communist	Desmond Murray	0.57%	67
Electorate: 21,058   Valid: 11,813 (56.10%)   Spoilt: 450   Quota: 1,969   Turnout: 12,263 (58.23%)

See also

• Belfast City Council
• Electoral wards of Belfast
• Local government in Northern Ireland
• Members of Belfast City Council