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2004 Irish local elections

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2004 Irish local elections
← 1999 11 June 2004 2009 →
1,627 County, City, Borough and Town Council Seats
Turnout58.64% Increase8.45pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Bertie Ahern, January 2004 (cropped).jpg
Enda Kenny 2009.jpg
Pat Rabbitte, circa 2002.jpg
Leader Bertie Ahern Enda Kenny Pat Rabbitte
Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour
Leader since 19 November 1994 6 June 2002 13 October 2001
Percentage 31.8% 27.6% 14.2%
Largest Party on Council 16 10 4
Councillors 542 468 188
Councillors +/- Decrease129 Increase32 Increase18
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Gerry Adams, October 2005 (cropped).jpg
Trevor Sargent 2006 headshot.jpg
Mary Harney, 2004 (headshot).jpg
Leader Gerry Adams Trevor Sargent Mary Harney
Party Sinn Féin Green Progressive Democrats
Leader since 13 November 1983 6 November 2001 26 October 1993
Percentage 8.1% 3.9% 3.9%
Largest Party on Council 1 N/A N/A
Councillors 127 32 32
Councillors +/- Increase63 Increase15 Steady

The 2004 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Friday, 11 June 2004, on the same day as the European elections and referendum on the amending the constitutional provisions on citizenship. Polling was delayed until 19 June 2004 in County Roscommon, due to the sudden death of Councillor Gerry Donnelly.

Turnout was the highest for 20 years at around 60%,[1] helped by the extra publicity of the referendum. The result was a setback for Fianna Fáil, which saw its share of the vote drop by 7 percentage points from its 1999 result to 32%, losing 20% of its council seats.[2] The party lost its majority on Clare County Council for the first time in 70 years, and fell behind Fine Gael in Galway, Limerick and Waterford city councils.[3] Labour's share of the vote remained static at 11% while Fine Gael dropped 1%. However, both parties gained seats with the Labour Party becoming the largest party on Dublin City Council. Major gains were made by Sinn Féin which managed to double the number of seats it held, mainly at the expense of Fianna Fáil.

These were the first elections since the Local Government Act 2001 modernised council structures and abolished the dual mandate. Many new councillors were elected for the first time, including 33 of the 52 of the councillors on Dublin City Council, which the city manager described as "unprecedented in the history of local government".[3] Many of the seats vacated by TDs and senators were won by family members.[4]

Results

[edit]

Voters received different-coloured ballot papers for the European election, city/county council election, and referendum, all of which went into the same ballot box and were separated by colour once the boxes arrived at the count centre for the city/county. According to the different franchises in Irish law, all residents were eligible to vote in the local elections, all EU citizens were eligible to vote in the European elections, and the referendum was confined to Irish citizens. Voters in towns with town councils received an additional ballot for that election, cast in a separate ballot box and counted locally within the town.[5]

County, city and town council seats

[edit]
Party Seats ±
Fianna Fáil 542 Decrease129
Fine Gael 468 Increase32
Labour 188 Increase18
Sinn Féin 125 Increase63
Green 32 Increase19
Progressive Democrats 32 Steady
Others 240 Decrease3
Total 1627 Steady

County and City Councils

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Vote share of parties in the election for County and City Councils

  Fianna Fáil (31.8%)
  Fine Gael (27.6%)
  Labour Party (11.4%)
  Sinn Féin (8.0%)
  Green Party (3.9%)
  Progressive Democrats (3.8%)
  Other (13.5%)
Party Seats ± 1st pref FPv% ±%
Fianna Fáil 302 Decrease80 578,139 31.8 Decrease7.1
Fine Gael 293 Increase16 503,088 27.6 Decrease0.5
Labour 101 Increase18 207,518 11.4 Increase0.6
Sinn Féin 54 Increase33 146,391 8.0 Increase4.5
Progressive Democrats 19 Decrease6 69,650 3.8 Increase0.9
Green 18 Increase10 71,052 3.9 Increase1.4
Socialist Party 4 Increase2 13,494 0.7 Increase0.3
Independent Fianna Fáil 2 Decrease2 9,356 0.5 Steady
Workers' Party 2 Decrease1 4,170 0.2 Decrease0.3
SKIA 1 Steady 1,618 0.1 Steady
Socialist Workers 0 Steady 6,125 0.3 +0.2
Republican Sinn Féin 0 Decrease1 2,036 0.1 —
Christian Solidarity 0 Steady 281 0.0 Decrease0.1
Independent 87 Increase11 207,207 11.4 Decrease0.2
Total 883 Steady 1,820,125 100 —
County and City Council Seats
Political Parties County council City council
  Fianna Fáil
274
28
  Fine Gael
263
30
  Labour Party
69
32
  Sinn Féin
39
15
  Progressive Democrats
14
5
  Green Party
15
3
  Other
85
11
Authority FF FG Lab PDs GP SF IFF WP WUA SKIA Ind Total Details
Carlow 8 7 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 Details
Cavan 11 11 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 25 Details
Clare 13 10 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 32 Details
Cork City 11 8 6 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 31 Details
Cork County 16 24 5 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 48 Details
Donegal 14 8 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 1 29 Details
Dublin City 12 10 15 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 3 52 Details
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown 7 9 6 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 28 Details
Fingal 4 5 6 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 4 24 Details
Galway City 2 3 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 15 Details
Galway County 10 10 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 30 Details
Kerry 11 8 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 27 Details
Kildare 10 7 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 25 Details
Kilkenny 8 11 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 26 Details
Laois 11 9 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 25 Details
Leitrim 10 8 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 22 Details
Limerick City 2 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 17 Details
Limerick County 12 12 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 Details
Longford 9 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 21 Details
Louth 9 7 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 4 26 Details
Mayo 12 15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 31 Details
Meath 12 9 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 5 25 Details
Monaghan 5 7 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 1 20 Details
Offaly 8 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 21 Details
Roscommon 9 10 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6 26 Details
Sligo 10 10 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 25 Details
South Dublin 6 3 7 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 3 26 Details
North Tipperary 10 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 21 Details
South Tipperary 10 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 26 Details
Waterford City 1 4 3 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 3 15 Details
Waterford County 7 11 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 23 Details
Westmeath 9 8 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Details
Wexford 6 7 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 21 Details
Wicklow 6 7 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 24 Details

Borough and town councils

[edit]
Party Seats ±
Fianna Fáil 240 Decrease49
Fine Gael 175 Increase16
Labour 87 Steady
Sinn Féin 71 Increase30
Green 14 Increase9
Progressive Democrats 13 Increase6
Others 144 Decrease12
Total 744 Steady

Borough councils

[edit]
Authority FF FG Lab SF GP PDs Other
Clonmel 3 2 1 1 5[a]
Drogheda 3 2 2 2 3
Kilkenny 4 4 3 1
Sligo 4 2 3 3
Wexford 2 2 5 1 2
Total 16 12 14 6 1 1 10

Town councils

[edit]
Town FF FG Lab SF GP PDs Ind Total
Ardee 2 3 1 1 1 1 9
Arklow 3 2 2 2 9
Athlone 4 2 1 1 1 9
Athy 2 3 3 1 9
Balbriggan 2 1 2 1 1 2 9
Ballina 4 2 1 1 1 9
Ballinasloe 3 1 1 4 9
Ballybay 3 3 2 1 9
Ballyshannon 3 4 1 1 9
Bandon 3 4 1 1 9
Bantry 4 3 1 1 9
Belturbet 4 3 2 9
Birr 2 3 1 1 2 9
Boyle 3 3 1 2 9
Bray 3 1 4 1 3 12
Buncrana 3 2 2 2 9
Bundoran 5 2 1 1 9
Carlow 3 3 2 1 9
Carrickmacross 3 2 3 1 9
Carrick-on-Suir 3 1 2 1 2 9
Cashel 2 1 1 5 9
Castlebar 3 3 1 1 1 9
Castleblayney 3 1 3 2 9
Cavan 4 3 1 1 9
Clonakilty 2 2 2 3 9
Clones 3 1 4 1 9
Cobh 1 2 3 1 2 9
Cootehill 3 3 2 1 9
Dundalk 3 2 3 1 3 12
Dungarvan 2 2 3 1 1 9
Edenderry 5 2 1 1 9
Ennis 3 2 1 3 9
Enniscorthy 3 2 1 3 9
Fermoy 1 1 1 1 5 9
Gorey 4 3 1 1 9
Granard 3 2 1 3 9
Greystones 3 3 1 2 9
Kells 4 1 2 1 1 9
Kilkee 5 2 2 9
Killarney 3 1 1 4[b] 9
Kilrush 4 1 4 9
Kinsale 2 4 1 1 1 9
Leixlip 2 2 2 1 2 9
Letterkenny 4 1 1 1 2 9
Lismore 4 3 1 1 9
Listowel 4 3 1 1 9
Longford 2 3 1 1 2 9
Loughrea 3 1 1 4 9
Macroom 2 4 2 1 9
Mallow 2 2 3 1 1 9
Midleton 3 2 1 3 9
Monaghan 3 2 4 9
Mountmellick 6 2 1 9
Muine Bheag 5 2 2 9
Mullingar 2 2 4 1 9
Naas 3 1 1 1 1 2 9
Navan 4 2 2 1 9
Nenagh 3 1 2 1 2 9
Newbridge 3 2 1 1 2 9
New Ross 4 2 2 1 9
Passage West 3 3 1 1 1 9
Portlaoise 3 3 1 2 9
Shannon 2 2 2 3 9
Skibbereen 2 3 2 1 1 9
Templemore 4 3 2 9
Thurles 1 1 2 1 4 9
Tipperary 2 2 1 4 9
Tralee 4 1 3 2 2 12
Tramore 3 3 1 2 9
Trim 2 2 1 1 3 9
Tuam 1 3 1 4 9
Tullamore 3 2 2 2 9
Westport 3 3 1 2 9
Wicklow 2 2 2 1 2 9
Youghal 3 2 2 1 1 9

Notes

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  1. ^ Includes 5 borough councillors for the Workers and Unemployed Action Group.
  2. ^ Michael Gleeson of the South Kerry Independent Alliance is included in this total.

References

[edit]
  • "2004 Local Elections". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  • "2004 Local Elections". Irish Elections. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  1. ^ Donnelly, Seán (14 June 2004). "The best local election turnout in nearly 20 years". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  2. ^ Hennessy, Mark; O'Regan, Michael (15 June 2004). "'A very bad performance' – Ahern". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  3. ^ a b McDonald, Frank (15 June 2004). "FF will find loss of power a bitter pill to swallow". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  4. ^ O'Halloran, Marie (15 June 2004). "Politicians hit by dual-mandate ban opt to pass on council mantle to their relatives". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  5. ^ Murphy, Tom (10 June 2004). "91,000 people are eligible to vote". Wicklow People. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
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