Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses

Adrian Kavanagh, First posted 2nd July 2018 with updates as new candidate nominations announced 

The first of a series rolling blog posts in which I will detail the latest information as to candidate selections for the 20109 Local Elections, relating to the different political parties and grouping and/or candidate declarations (as in the case of the non-party grouping). The rule of thumb here will be that I add party candidates only after they have been officially selected to run for the party at a selection convention, or by some other means of candidate selection (e.g. added by party headquarters).

The post focuses on the Labour Party candidate selections. In the Autumn of 2018 the Labour Party had forty seven City/County Councillors, according to my best estimates. Declining support levels in the years following General Election 2011 saw Labour losing a large number of seats at the 2014 Local Elections and the 2016 General Election. So the 2019 Local Elections will prove to be very important for the Labour Party in terms of rebuilding the party in the wake of the losses in 2014 and 2016 (and also a number of defections in the period between 2011 and 2016).

8th May 2019: One hundred and eleven candidates are listed on this page so far.

Forty five of these candidates (40.5%) are women and sixty six are men (59.5%). As far as I am aware, at least ninety four Labour Party selection conventions have taken place so far. With one hundred and sixty six electoral areas being contested, this means that seventy two electoral areas will not have a Labour Party candidate in these elections.

Thirty six of these Labour Party local election candidates are currently sitting City/County Councillors (incumbents) – 33.3% of the total. 34.8% of male Labour local election candidates are incumbents, as opposed to 31.1% of female Labour candidates. At least thirteen (11.7%) other Labour Party candidates have previously held some form of electoral office.

The candidates contesting the 2019 Local Elections for the Labour Party include the following:

Fiona Bonfield and Viginia O’Dowd, were both selected as Labour Party local election candidates on 29th June 2018 (as reported subsequently on by The Nenagh Guardian (9th July 2018)). Virigina O’Dowd subsequently withdrew from the election contest and will be replaced as Labour’s Nenagh candidate by Louise Morgan Walsh, as reported by the Tipperary Live website (20th February 2019). Liam van der Spek was identified as the party’s candidate for the Cavan-Belturbet electoral area by the The Anglo-Celt (21st June 2018). Cllrs Pio Smith and Paul Bell were selected to contest the Drogheda Urban electoral area in July 2018. A series of selections for the Dublin Mid-West Dáil constituency area on 30th July 2018 saw Breda Bonner, Joanna Tuffy and David Eaton being selected as Labour Party candidates for the three different electoral areas located there. On 31st July 2018 John Maher was selected as the candidate for the Cork City North East electoral area.

Jack Walsh was selected as the Waterford City East candidate and Seamus Ryan was selected as the Waterford City South candidate at a selection convention on 14th September 2018. Cllr. Kevin Byrne was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Celbridge at a selection convention in the Celbridge Manor Hotel on 18th September 2018, as reported by the Leinster Leader (19th September 2018). However, he later withdrew from the electoral contest and announced that he was retiring from politics, as reported by the Linster Leader (12th April 2019). Ciara Galvin was selected as the candidate for Celbridge, subsequently, at a second party convention, which took place on 15th April 2019. Peter Horgan was selected as the Cork City South East candidate for the Labour Party at a convention on 24th September 2018. With Cllr. John McGinley not contesting the next local elections, Angela Feeney was selected as the Labour candidate for the Maynooth electoral area at a selection convention on 25th September 2018. Liam van der Spek was officially selected as the candidate for Cavan-Belturbet on 29th September 2018.

A selection convention for the Athy electoral area on October 2nd 2018 selected Cllrs. Aoife Breslin and Mark Wall as Labour Party candidates for that electoral area. Seána Ó Rodaigh was selected to contest the Balbriggan electoral area on 3rd October 2018. Anne Ferris and Ian McGahon were selected as candidates for the Bray West and Bray East electoral areas, respectively, at a convention, which took place on 7th October 2018. Cllr. Anne Breen and Fergus Carpenter were selected as Labour candidates for the seven-seat Naas electoral area at convention which took place on 2nd October 2018, as reported in the Leinster Leader (5th October 2018). A selection convention on 11th October 2018 in Limerick confirmed the selections of Cllr. Elena Secas, Cllr. Joe Leddin, Anne Cronin and Conor Sheehan as candidates in that area. Cllr. Mary Freehill, Cllr. Dermot Lacey and Kevin Donoghue were selected as candidates for the electoral areas covered (mainly) by the Dublin Bay South electoral area at a selection convention on 15th October 2018. luke Field was selected as the Cork City South Central candidates on 22nd October 2018. Selection conventions for the Newbridge and Kildare electoral areas took place on 25th October 2018. Aaron Byrne was selected as the party candidate for the Kells electoral area at a selection convention on 30th October 2018, while Cllrs. Graham Spring and Terry O’Brien, along with Ben Slimm, were selected as candidates for the Tralee electoral area on that same night. Cllr. Graham Spring, however, later withdrew from the local election contest, as reported on the Radio Kerry website (20th March 2019). Mary McCamley and Elaine Dooley were selected as candidates for the Blacnhardstown-Mulhuddart and Ongar electoral areas respectively also on the 30th October. In late October 2018, it was announced that Michelle Hall would be the Labour candidate for the Drogheda Rural electoral area, as reported on the Drogheda Life website (26th October 2018).

Eric Nolan was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Midleton on 12th November 2018. Paul O’Brien was selected as the Labour Party candidates for the Wicklow electoral area on 15th November 2018. Selection conventions for the Kenmare and Killarney electoral areas took place on 27th November 2018, while the Cabra-Glasnevin selection convention took place on 22nd November 2018.

The selection convention for the Carlow electoral area took place on 8th December 2018, while the selection convention for the Wexford (Town) electoral area took place on 12th December 2018.

Jack Walsh was selected to contest Wateford City East, but sadly passed away in January 2019.

Selection conventions for all of the electoral areas in Westmeath County (apart from Athlone) took place on Friday 11th January 2019.

As reported on the Clare FM website (15th January 2019), Seamus Ryan will be the Labour candidate for the Ennis electoral area.

Bridín Moloney was selected as the Labour candidate for New Ross at a selection convention, which took place on 14th January 2019.

The selection convention for the Rush Lusk electoral area took place on 24th January 2019.

The selection convention for the Dún Laoghaire electoral area took place on 31st January 2019.

Cllr. Peter O’Brien, who won a seat in Glencullen-Sandyford in the 2014 elections, was selected as the Dundrum candidate on 6th February 2019, following on Cllr. Grace Tallon’s decision not to contest the May elections.

The Donegal Democrat (12th February 2019) reported that Seamus Rodgers would be the Labour candidate in the Glenties electoral area.

Eoin Barry will contest the Graiguecullen-Portarlington constituency for Labour and his selection will be formally endorsed at a selection convention in late February 2019, as reported by the Laois Nationalist (13th February 2019). This convention took place in the Talbot Hotel on 22nd February 2019, with Cllr. Noel Tuohy also being selected to contest Portlaoise at that same convention, as reported by the Leinster Express (23rd February 2019). In February 2019 it was also announced that Nessa Cosgrove would be the party candidate for Sligo-Strandhill, as reported by the Ocean FM website (13th February 2019).

The selection convention for the Swords electoral area took place on 21st February 2019, while the selection convention for Castlecomer electoral area took place on 20th February 2019.

As reported by the Galway Advertiser (7th March 2019), selection conventions for Galway City West and Galway City Central took place on 3rd March 2019.

Cllr. William Paton was selected to contest the Tullow electoral area on 20th March 2019.

The Leixlip selection convention took place on 21st March 2019, as reported in the Leinster Leader (28th March 2019).

The selection convention for Cork City North West took place on 25th March 2019. The Dungarvan selection convention will take place on 29th March 2019, with Thomas Phelan the only candidate nominated to contest this.

The selection convention for Galway City East took place on 4th April 2019.

Annie Hoey was selected to contest the Laytown-Bettystown electoral area for Labour on 23rd April 2019.