Adrian Kavanagh, 16th October 2018 – post updated as and when new female candidates are added/female candidates withdraw.

314 female candidates contested the 2009 City and County Council elections, accounting for 17.2% of the total number of candidates. 440 female candidates contested the 2014 City and County Council elections, accounting for 21.6% of the total number of candidates contesting those elections.

For the 2019 elections, given that gender quotas were introduced the 2016 General Election, the expectation might be that even more female candidates will be contesting these City and County Council elections. Against that, the likely impact of smaller constituency units (with fewer seats per constituency) for the 2019 elections (relative to the 2014 contests) may act as a disincentive to new, female, candidates, or may limit the number of candidates being selected by political parties at selection conventions, thus preventing a number of new, female, candidates from getting onto party tickets.

Updated 6th June 2019: Based on the list of candidates below, there are now five hundred and sixty one officially selected/declared female candidates (out of a total of one thousand, nine hundred and seventy five selected, or declared, local election candidates). (I “think” that this is, more or less, the final number, but there may well be some slight tweaks to these figures in next few weeks, if and when I become aware of any errors with my data.)

Female candidates currently account for 28.4% of the total number of candidates selected/declared (that I have accounted for/listed on my website to date).

Across the different political party/grouping pages on this site, I now have listed/accounted for:

• 118 female Fine Gael candidates – 29.1% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, one hundred and sixty six Fine Gael selection conventions have taken place so far
• 88 female Fianna Fáil candidates – 21.2% of the total number of candidates selected to date – as far as I am aware, one hundred and sixty six Fianna Fáil selection conventions have taken place so far
• 78 female Sinn Féin candidates– 33.9% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, one hundred and sixty three Sinn Féin selection conventions have taken place so far
• 45 female Labour Party candidates – 40.5% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, ninety four Labour Party selection conventions have taken place so far
• 36 female Green Party candidates – 43.9% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, eighty two Green Party selection conventions have taken place so far
• 32 female Social Democrat candidates – 55.2% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, fifty seven Social Democrats selection conventions have taken place so far
• 28 female People Before Profit candidates – 58.3% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, forty seven People Before Profit selection conventions have taken place so far
• 16 female Aontú candidates – 30.2% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, fifty three Aontú selection conventions have taken place so far
• 9 female Solidarity candidates – 47.4% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, seventeen Solidarity selection conventions have taken place so far In all, there are 37 female Solidarity-People Before Profit local election candidates – 55.2% of their total number of selected candidates.
• 9 female Renua Ireland candidates – 32.1% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, twenty five Renua selection conventions have taken place so far
• 3 female Workers Party candidates – 42.9% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, seven Workers Party selection conventions have taken place so far
• 2 female Housing Rights & Reform Alliance candidates – 33.3% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, three Housing Rights & Reform Alliance selection conventions have taken place so far
• 1 female Workers and Unemployed Action candidate – 33.3% of the total number of candidates selected to date (that I am aware of) – as far as I am aware, two Workers and Unemployed Action selection conventions have taken place so far
• 96 female non-party/independent candidates (including 6 Independents4Change (61.5% of the total number of Independents4Change candidates) and 2 March4Tipp female candidates) – 19.3% of the total number of independent candidates who have declared their candidacies to date (that I am aware of)

As Figure 2(a) (above) shows, the percentage of female candidates being selected/declared has increased across all political parties/political groupings – including the Independent/Non Party ranks – at these elections, relative to the levels recorded at the 2009 and 2014 City and County Council elections.

Figure 2(b) does point to an overall reduction in the number of female Labour Party candidates at these elections, relative to the numbers who ran for the party in both 2009 and 2014, but this reflects the overall reduction in Labour Party local election candidate numbers. The increased in the number of female Independent candidates is relatively minimal, relative to the 2014 numbers, but the percentage figures is more notable, given the overall reduction in the number of non-party candidates contesting the 2019 elections, relative to the 2014 City and County Council elections.

There is a geographical dimension here, as – to date – female candidates are accounting for 34.9% of candidates in the urban electoral areas and 23.0% of the total number of candidates in the more rural constituencies. 

Female candidates account for 39.1% of the total number of candidates in the Dublin region, as against levels of 28.8% in Leinster, 26.4% in Munster and 19.7% in Connacht-Ulster.

As Figure 3 shows, there is a notable “geography” to female local election candidacy levels across the Republic of Ireland, with higher levels in Dublin and the more urban areas and lower levels in rural Ireland, but particularly in the more western counties. The local authority areas with the highest level of female candidacies are (again) Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (46.6%), Dublin City (40.4%) and South Dublin County (39.1%), while the lowest female candidacy levels are associated with Roscommon (12.1%), Mayo (15.9%), Galway County (18.8%) and Leitrim (18.8%), as well as the old Limerick County area (13.9%).

While the number/percentage of female candidates has increased notably at the national level, as noted earlier, there is also some striking geographical patterns evident if we look at the level of change at the county/city (local authority) level. As the map in Figure 4 shows, female candidacy levels have increased across much of the state’s territory, but female candidacy levels have fallen in all of the counties located to the west of the Shannon. The local authority areas associated with the greatest levels of increase, relative to the 2014 Local Elections, are Wicklow (15.6%), Wexford (11.9%), Kildare (11.7%), Cork City (10.8%), Westmeath (10.6%), Dublin City (10.6%) and Meath (10.3%), as well as in the old Waterford County (14.1%) and Limerick City (11.9%) areas. Female candidacy levels have fallen across all of the local authority areas located to the west of the Shannon, including Clare and Galway City. The greatest levels of decline, relative to the 2014 Local Elections, are associated with Roscommon (5.8%), Sligo (3.7%) and Galway County (1.5%), as well as the old Limerick County area (0.8%).

Of the candidates selected/declared to date (that I am aware of and who have been listed on this website), eight hundred and nine are incumbents/sitting City or County Councillors – 40.9% of the total number of local election candidates at this point in time. There is a notable gender divide in this regard. 639 (45.0%) of the selected/declared male candidates, as of now, are incumbents, as opposed to just 170 (30.4%) of the selected/declared female local election candidates.

The electoral areas with the largest numbers of female candidates at present are

• Ballymun-Finglas and Lucan with nine selected/declared female local election candidates.
• Greystones, South East Inner City and Blackrock with eight selected/declared female local election candidates.
• Navan, Tralee, Limerick City North and North Inner City with seven selected/declared female local election candidates.
• Portlaoise, Kinnegad, Longford (Town), Trim, Dundalk South, Tramore-Waterford City West, Swords, Kimmage-Rathmines, Firhouse-Bohernabreena, Tallaght-South, Glencullen-Sandyford and Killiney-Shankill with six selected/declared female local election candidates.
• Mullingar, Ashbourne, New Ross, Carrick on Suir, Clonakilty-Skibbereen (Skibbereen-West Cork), Macroom, Athenry-Oranmore, Bailieborough-Cootehill, Cork City North East, Cork City North West, Cork City South West, Limerick City East, Rathfarnham-Templeogue, Tallaght-Central, Rush-Lusk, Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart, Stillorgan and Dún Laoghaire with five selected/declared female local election candidates.
• Kilkenny City, Kildare, Naas, Newbridge, Maynooth, Ratoath, Arklow, Wicklow (Town), Sligo-Strandhill, Monaghan (Town), Ennis, Newport, Dungarvan, Midleton, Fermoy, Cork City South Central, Cork City South East, Galway City Central, Galway City East, Galway City West, Clondalkin, Dundrum, Artane-Whitehall. Donaghmede, Clontarf, Cabra-Glasnevin, Pembroke and South West Inner City with four selected/declared female local election candidates.
• Graiguecullen-Portarlington, Birr, Athlone (Westmeath), Carlow (Town), Piltown, Laytown-Bettystown, Drogheda Urban, Dundalk Carlingford, Athy, Celbridge, Bray East, Enniscorthy, Kilmuckridge, Wexford, Cashel-Tipperary, Clonmel, Portlaw-Kilmacthomas, Bantry-West Cork, Bandon-Kinsale, Cobh, Adare-Rathkeale, Gort-Kinvara, Ballina, Donegal, Glenties, Letterkenny, Carndonagh, Limerick City West, Waterford City South, Ballyfermot-Drimnagh, Balbriggan, Ongar and Castleknock with three selected/declared female local election candidates.
• The list of electoral areas that do not have any female candidates selected/declared to contest them, as of yet, includes: Roscrea-Templemore, An Daingean, Athlone (Roscommon), Swinford, Ballymote-Tobercurry and Lifford-Stranorlar.

The female candidates, who have been officially selected/declared to context the 2019 Local Elections, to date include the following (by electoral area):

These details will still be constantly updated over the next few months, as and when I come across details of selected/declared female candidates who are not currently on the list above.