Adrian Kavanagh, 2nd September 2019 (with subsequent updates)

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 46 of the successful candidates in these elections (4.85% of the total number) have either stood down, been “promoted”, or have sadly passed away. 

36 of the former Councillors in this group are male (78.3%) and 10 are female (21.7%).

As Table 1 shows, 19 (41.3%) of the co-options/new Councillors are male, while 27 are female (58.7%). 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 at that point) to 243 (25.6% of total number of Councillors as of now). But this number will increase when all the remaining co-options (following on General Election 2020) are factored in.

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. One Councillor had to stand down for personal/medical issues, while three other Councillors, sadly, passed away.

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 5 Councillors (0.53% of the total) would fall into this category. 1 female Councillor falls into this category; a number that accounts for 20.0% of the total number of Councillors in this particular grouping and which is equivalent to 0.44% of the number of female Councillors who were elected in 2019. (By contrast, 0.55% of the number of the male Councillors who were elected in 2019 (or subsequently co-opted) have changed their political party/political grouping since June 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: 278
• Fine Gael: 254
• Independents/Non Party and Others: 197 (including 3 Independents 4 Change, 1 Workers and Unemployed Action, 1 Irish Democratic Party, 1 Independent Left, 1 Kerry Independent Alliance, 1 Republican Sinn Féin)
• Sinn Féin: 81
• Labour Party: 55
• Green Party: 50 
• Social Democrats: 19
• Solidarity-People Before Profit: 11 (Solidarity 4, People Before Profit 7)
• Aontú: 3
• 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 the Green Party (by eight), Fianna Fáil (by four) and for Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, Social Democrats and the Independents grouping (by one). The current numbers of female Councillors by party/grouping (as estimated on 7th October 2019) 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 four parties/groupings which have more female Councillors than male Councillors; Aontú, Solidarity-People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and the Green Party.