2024 Irish local elections

2024 Irish local elections

7 June 2024
949 County and City Council Seats
Opinion polls
First party Second party Third party   Leader Micheál Martin Simon Harris Mary Lou McDonald Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Sinn Féin Leader since 26 January 2011 24 March 2024 10 February 2018 Last election 279 255 81   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ivana Bacik Eamon Ryan Holly Cairns Party Labour Green Social Democrats Leader since 24 March 2022 27 May 2011 1 March 2023 Last election 57 49 19   Seventh party Eighth party   PBP–S Leader Michael Collins Collective leadership Party Independent Ireland PBP–Solidarity Last election Did not exist 10

The 2024 Irish local elections are set to be held in all local authorities in Ireland on Friday, 7 June 2024. European Parliament elections are set for the same date. Each local government area (a city, a county, or a city and county) is divided into local electoral areas (LEAs) where three to seven councillors are elected on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). It will include the 2024 Limerick mayoral election, the first directly elected mayor in Ireland.

Election timetable

• 5 April: Ministerial order fixing the election date made by Darragh O'Brien, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage
• 8 May: Date on which posters may be erected
• 7 June: Polling day (7 a.m.–10 p.m.)

Campaign

Violence and abuse against candidates

On 8 May, Fingal councillor Tania Doyle and her husband, while erecting election posters, were assaulted by a man shouting anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric while an accomplice filmed it. Her husband was left bleeding and knocked to the ground by the assault which also saw Doyle herself punched in the head after she attempted to shield her husband. The assault lasted 15 minutes and only ended when the accomplice pulled the assaulter away from kicking Doyle's husband while on the ground. Doyle stated she feared for their lives and going forward would not be canvassing for the remainder of the election. The gardaí have stated that they are investigating the matter.

Concurrently on 8 May, Dublin City Councillor Janet Horner of the Green Party and a colleague claim she was assaulted by a man who said "Dublin 1 is for the far-right". Horner was erecting election posters when she claims she was confronted by a man who threatened to kill her. She claims the man confiscated her posters and struck her when she resisted. Horner contacted the Gardaí afterwards and resolved to continue to canvass despite the event.

In another incident on 8 May, two women placing posters up in the Smithfield area of Dublin for the Social Democrats' Ellen O’Doherty were threatened with a knife by a man demanding they remove the posters, who was then joined by another man. The women managed to escape when a local woman came from a nearby house and begged the men to stop. The campaigners reported the incident to the Gardai and said they would not canvass in future nor return to the area.

On 15 May Fianna Fail candidate Suzzie O’Deniyi was canvassing with members of her team in the Caherdavin area of Limerick City when a man is alleged to have begun screaming racist and sexist slurs about O’Deniyi at her supporters. The man recorded himself doing so on his phone. A man, Aaron Daly of Caherdavin, was subsequently arrested by Gardai and charged with two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public order) Act 1994 before being released on bail. Daly was ordered to have no contact of any kind with O’Deniyi and that he is to report to the Gardai regularly until his trial, which is scheduled for 6 September 2024.

On 17 May Fine Gael candidate Linkwinstar Mattathil Mathew and his campaign team were forced to take down posters in the Artane-Whitehall area of Dublin after they were racially abused and intimated by a group of men. The perpetrators filmed the incident and posted it to social media.

On 16 May Tánaiste Micheál Martin addressed the targeting of candidates, denouncing it and noting that the large majority of those targeted are from minority backgrounds. Martin stated the right to run in elections is a pillar of Liberal Democracy, regardless of background.

Standing of parties

Party		Councillors
		2019 result	Current seats	Change
	Fianna Fáil	279	276	3
	Fine Gael	255	254	1
	Sinn Féin	81	81
	Labour	57	55	2
	Green	49	45	4
	Social Democrats	19	22	3
	Independent Ireland	—	13	13
	PBP–Solidarity	11	10	1
	Aontú	3	3
	Inds. 4 Change	3	2	1
	Right to Change	—	2	2
	Rabharta	—	1	1
	KIA	1	1
	Republican Sinn Féin	1	1
	Workers' Party	1	1
	WUA	1	1
	Independent	185	181	4

Results by party

Party		Candidates	Seats	±	1st pref.	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	365
	Fine Gael	339
	Sinn Féin	335
	Labour	107
	Green	129
	Social Democrats	77
	People Before Profit	44
	Solidarity	8
	Aontú	66
	Inds. 4 Change	1
	Independent Ireland	60		New			New
	WUA	2
	Workers' Party	3
	KIA	1
	Right to Change	2		New			New
	Irish Freedom	28		New			New
	National Party	15		New			New
	Republican Sinn Féin	1
	Rabharta	4		New			New
	Centre Party
	Ireland First	8		New			New
	The Irish People	55		New			New
	Party for Animal Welfare	5		New			New
	Farmers' Alliance			New			New
	100% Redress	6		New			New
	Glór	1
	Independent Left	1
	Independent	504
Total			949	—		—	—

Opinion polls

Last date of polling	Polling firm / Commissioner	Sample size	SF Left	FF Renew	FG EPP	GP G/EFA	Lab S&D	SD	PBP–S	Aon	O/I
15 May 2024	The Irish Times/Ipsos B&A	1,500	18	20	21	5	6	3	2	1	23
8 February 2020	2020 general election	—	24.5	22.2	20.9	7.1	4.4	2.9	2.6	1.9	13.5
24 May 2019	2019 local elections	—	9.5	26.9	25.6	5.6	5.7	2.3	1.9	1.5	24.1

See also

• Next Irish general election

External links

• 2024 Local Elections ElectionsIreland.org
• Adrian Kavanagh: Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses