Adrian Kavanagh, 2nd September 2019 (with subsequent updates – latest update: Wednesday 15th May 2024)

The 2019 Local Elections resulted in the election of 949 City and County Councillors. Since that election took place on 24th May 2019, I have estimated that at least 132 of the successful candidates in these elections (13.91% of the total number) have either stood down, been “promoted”, or have sadly passed away. 

Moreover, at least sixteen of the new Councillors co-opted to replace these Councillors have themselves resigned from their new role, bringing the total number of City/County Councllors who have either stood down, been “promoted”, or have sadly passed away, up to 148 (15.60% of the total number).

92 of the former Councillors in this group are male (62.2%) and 56 are female (37.8%).

70 (48.3%) of the co-options/new Councillors are male, while 75 are female (51.7%).

This means that the total number of female City and County Councillors has increased notably (relative to the number of female candidates elected at the May 2019 elections); going from 226 (23.8% of total number of Councillors elected at the 2019 Local Elections) to 245 (25.87% of the total number of City/County Councillors, at this point).

(The number of female City/County Councillors had increased to 243 by June 2020. However, with a large number (six) of female County/City Councillors featuring among the Taoiseach’s nominees to the Seanad (as announced on 27th June 2020), the overall number of female City/County Councillors fell back to 237 (25.2% of the total number of City/County Councillors, at that point). The number of female Councillors did increase again, somewhat, after the co-options to replace the Taoiseach’s nominees on different City and County Council have been decided on, as was the case with the cooptions of Andrea McKevitt (Fianna Fáil, Dundalk-Carlingford) and Evelyn Parson (Independent, Ballinasloe).)

In the year immediately following the 2019 Local Elections, most of the people in this group of former Councillors would have been people who were “promoted” to take up positions in Dáil or Seanad Eireann, but in 2021 and 2022 a larger proportion of these were accounted for by Councillors who were standing down due to an inability to balance the demands of being a Councillor with their own job/career. One of these Councillors stood down due to being elected to the European Parliament on the same day as the County and City Council elections in May 2019, while two other Councillors were elected for two different electoral areas at these elections and, hence, had to stand down as Councillor for one of these electoral areas. In all, 61 of the former Councillors (55.0% of the former Councillors grouping) fall into this group of Councillors who were subsequently “promoted” to national, or even European, electoral office, or who were “elected for two seats” at the 2019 elections.

Of the Councillors (39, or 35.1% of the total number) who stood down for personal/career reasons (e.g., time pressures, work reasons, health or stress issues), there seems to be a disproportionate number of younger, “first time” and female Councillors in this grouping, while this also includes a number of Councillors (8, or 25.0% of this group) who were themselves co-opted onto the Council in the years after the 2019 Local Elections. At least eleven County or City Councillors (9.9%) have sadly passed away since the holding of the 2019 Local Elections.

As of now, the largest number of co-options by political party involves the Green Party, with 28 Green Party Councillors having stood down from their Council seats (56.0% of the number elected in May 2019). 16 of these former Green Party councillors stood down in order to take up seats on the European Parliament, or to take up seats in Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann. This means that 32.0% of the Green Party Councillors elected in May 2019 have gone on to secure “higher electoral office” in Europe or in Leinster House. The next highest number of co-options involving a political party/grouping involves Fianna Fáil (24), followed by Fine Gael (23), Sinn Féin (18), Independents (17), Labour (12), Social Democrats (8), Solidarity (2) and People Before Profit (2).

The City Councils/County Councils that have seen the greatest numbers of cooptions since May 2019 are Dublin City (14), South Dublin County (14), Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (12), Fingal (11), Louth (10), Cork County (10), Waterford (8), Meath (7), Clare (6), Kildare (5) and Wicklow (5).

The electoral areas/constituencies that have seen the greatest numbers of co-options since May 2019 are Cabra-Glasnevin (4), Firhouse-Bohernabreena (4), Rathfarnham-Templeogue (4), North Inner City (3), South West Inner City (3), Tralee (3), Blackrock (3), Dún Laoghaire (3), Glencullen-Sandyford (3), Castleknock (3), Ongar (3), Ashbourne (3), Greystones (3), Tramore-Waterford City West (3), Carrigaline (3), Bantry-West Cork (3), Shannon (2), Ennistimon (2), Midleton (2), Cork City South West (2), Castleknock (2), Killiney-Shankill (2), Balbriggan (2), Castleknock (2), Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart (2), Clondalkin (2), Palmerstown-Fonthill (2), Killarney (2), Kildare (Town) (2), Naas (2), Portlaoise (2), Limerick City East (2), Ardee (2), Drogheda Urban (2), Drogheda Rural (2), Dundalk-Carlingford (2), Dundalk South (2), Laytown-Bettystown (2), Waterford City East (2), Waterford City South (2) and Bray East (2).

In addition to the series of co-options, as outlined/discussed above, there has also been some changes in political party/grouping affiliations involving Councillors who were elected in May 2019. I estimate that, at present, at least 37 Councillors (3.90% of the total) would fall into this category. 8 female Councillors fall into this category; a number that accounts for 21.6% of the total number of Councillors in this particular grouping and which is equivalent to 3.54% of the number of female Councillors who were elected in 2019. (By contrast, 4.01% of the number of the male Councillors who were elected in 2019 (or subsequently co-opted) have changed their political party/political grouping since May 2019.)

One of the main impacts of these changes of Councillor political affiliations has been to change the number of City or County Council members associated with different political parties or groupings. As of now, I estimate that the number of City or County Council seats held by different political parties or groupings stands are as follows: Fianna Fáil 274, Fine Gael 245, Independents/Non Party 205 (including Independents 4 Change (3), Workers and Unemployed Action (1), Independent Left (1), Kerry Independent Alliance (1)), Sinn Féin 81, Labour Party 53, Green Party 45, Social Democrats 22, Solidarity-People Before Profit 10 (People Before Profit 6, Solidarity 4), Independent Ireland 9, Aontú 3, An Rabharta Glas-Green Left 1, Workers Party 1.

In the fluctuating political climate leading up to the next local elections in 2024, further changes of political allegiance are almost guaranteed – and some of these I may well not be aware of yet! – but I will update these figures, as and when I become aware of further changes.

As a result of the co-options and changes of party/grouping that have taken place since May 2019, the number of female City/County Councillors have increased for Fianna Fáil (by ten), the Green Party (by seven), the Independents grouping (by four), and Sinn Féin (by two), while numbers have dropped by one for the Social Democrats and Solidarity-People Before Profit. The current numbers of female Councillors by party/grouping (as estimated on 7th February 2024) may be viewed in Figure 1.

The significant increase in the number of female Green Party Councillors due to the co-options immediately following on General Election 2020 means that there are now three parties/groupings which have more female Councillors than male Councillors; Aontú, Solidarity-People Before Profit and the Green Party.

In the Dublin region, co-options have significantly increased the total number of female City/County Councillors in that region. At the May 2019 elections, 70 female candidates won seats (38.3%), as opposed to 113 male candidates. Since May 2019, 26 male Councillors and 25 female Councillors have stood down or have sadly passed away, or else been promoted to the Dáil/Seanad/European Parliament. By contrast, 32 of the cooptions to fill these vacancies (64.3%) have involved new female Councillors, as opposed to just 18 new male Councillors. This means that there are now 77 female Councillors (42.3% of the current total) across the Dublin region and 105 male Councillors at this point in time, with one vacancy left to be filled.