2019 Louth County Council election

2019 Louth County Council election

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All 29 seats on Louth County Council 15 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin Fine Gael Seats won 7 7 5 Seat change 2 3 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Labour Green Independent Seats won 3 1 6 Seat change 1 1 3
Results by local electoral area
Council control after election TBD

An election to all 29 seats on Louth County Council was held on 24 May 2019 as part of the 2019 Irish local elections. County Louth was divided into 5 local electoral areas (LEAs) to elect councillors for a five-year term of office on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Boundary review

Following a recommendation of the 2018 LEA boundary review committee, the local electoral areas in County Louth were altered. The committee's terms of reference required a maximum number of councillors of 7 seats, which had been breached by the 10-seat Drogheda LEA used at the 2014 Louth County Council election. There were boundary adjustments in other LEAs to reflect by population shifts revealed by the 2016 census. ^[1] The boundary committee recommended that Dundalk be designated a borough district. This was implemented in the initial statutory instrument, but reversed as being contrary to the terms of the Local Government Act 2001. ^[2]

Overview

Following the elections Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil emerged as the joint largest party with 7 seats. Sinn Féin lost 1 seat in Dundalk and 2 in Drogheda. Fianna Fáil gained a seat from Sinn Féin and also from the Green Party in Dundalk. Accounting for the defection of Kevin Callan after 2014, Fine Gael returned with 5 seats, a loss of 2 seats overall. The Labour Party increased their numbers by 1 seat to 3 by gaining another seat in Drogheda.

Kevin Callan won a seat in each of the 2 Drogheda LEAs. He chose to sit for Drogheda Urban. The casual vacancy was filled at a meeting of the council on 17 June 2019 by Declan Power, who had run for Fianna Fáil in 2019 but who had since quit the party.

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Sinn Féin	7	3	10,651	24.10	7.32
	Fianna Fáil	7	2	8,624	19.51	0.48
	Fine Gael	5	2	8,891	20.12	0.56
	Labour	3	1	3,501	7.92	2.95
	Green	1	1	2,829	6.40	2.54
	Renua	0		1,463	3.31	New
	Direct Democracy	0		142	0.32	1.59
	United People	0		134	0.30	New
	People Before Profit	0		101	0.23	0.06
	Independent	6	3	7,854	17.77	1.27
Total		29		44,190	100.00

Results by local electoral area

^  *: Outgoing councillor elected in 2014.
^  †: Outgoing councillor coopted subsequent to the 2014 election.

Ardee

Ardee: 6 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Fine Gael	Dolores Minogue [*]	15.28%	1,404
	Fine Gael	Colm Markey [*] [a]	15.11%	1,388
	Sinn Féin	Pearse McGeough [*]	10.96%	1,007	1,011	1,018	1,040	1,055	1,113	1,411
	Independent	Jim Tenanty [*]	10.40%	955	978	983	1,048	1,178	1,295	1,396
	Fianna Fáil	John Sheridan	9.47%	870	877	887	902	933	976	996	1,114	1,131
	Independent	Hugh D. Conlon [a]	8.35%	767	771	786	825	842	911	928	1,054	1,099
	Fianna Fáil	Fintan Malone	7.07%	649	661	664	685	757	808	851	917	949
	Green	Seán Connolly	5.54%	509	514	519	557	577	635	652
	Sinn Féin	Brendan McKenna	5.36%	492	500	501	515	553	576
	Independent	Kevin Carroll	4.57%	420	426	428	483	512
	Fine Gael	Finnan McCoy	4.42%	406	423	448	464
	Independent	Albert D. Byrne	2.07%	190	192	194
	Independent	Enda Murray	1.40%	129	132
Electorate: 20,007  Valid: 9,186  Spoilt: 281  Quota: 1,313  Turnout: 9,467 (47.32%)

Drogheda Rural

Drogheda Rural: 4 seats ^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fine Gael	Oliver Tully [*] [a]	16.62%	965	971	1,005	1,060	1,173
	Labour	Michelle Hall	16.60%	964	977	1,000	1,035	1,095	1,097	1,214
	Independent	Kevin Callan [*] [a]	15.43%	896	912	937	1,048
	Sinn Féin	Tom Cunningham [*]	11.42%	663	672	708	730	765	765	1,113
	Sinn Féin	Leanne Saurin	10.38%	603	616	628	651	689	690
	Renua	Eamon Sweeney	9.78%	568	579	591	620	727	732	787
	Fianna Fáil	Richard Cooney	8.21%	477	479	561	585
	Independent	Frank Godfrey [*]	5.46%	317	323	343
	Fianna Fáil	Declan Power	4.46%	259	261
	United People	Jeffrey Rudd	0.88%	51
	Direct Democracy	Patrick Greene	0.77%	45
Electorate: 13,070  Valid: 5,808  Spoilt: 123  Quota: 1,162  Turnout: 5,931 (45.62%)

Drogheda Urban

Drogheda Urban: 6 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Labour	Paul Bell [*] [a]	14.76%	1,292
	Labour	Pio Smith [*]	14.22%	1,245	1,255
	Sinn Féin	Joanna Byrne [†]	10.54%	923	927	939	959	975	1,109	1,129	1,372
	Independent	Kevin Callan [*]	10.25%	897	902	905	913	936	951	996	1,012	1,030	1,124	1,292
	Fianna Fáil	James Byrne	9.10%	797	801	804	804	807	816	838	848	853	1,076	1,251
	Independent	Paddy McQuillan	8.78%	769	774	793	819	858	875	907	943	993	1,035	1,086
	Fine Gael	Richie Culhane [*]	6.64%	581	583	585	587	593	596	623	629	634	671
	Independent	Frank Godfrey [*]	5.92%	518	523	525	527	551	560	646	664	681	772	881
	Fianna Fáil	Anthony Moore	5.78%	506	507	510	511	521	524	577	586	589
	Renua	Michael O'Dowd	3.45%	302	304	309	314	354	359
	Sinn Féin	David Saurin [†]	3.19%	279	280	290	295	303	367	373
	Sinn Féin	Kenneth Flood [*]	2.98%	261	262	265	271	278
	Renua	Maria McCabe	1.19%	104	105	107	111
	People Before Profit	Angus Macdonald	1.15%	101	101	101
	Direct Democracy	Christopher Faulkner	1.11%	97	97	108	117
	United People	Jeffrey Rudd	0.95%	83	83
Electorate: 20,424  Valid: 8,755  Spoilt: 241  Quota: 1,251  Turnout: 8,496 (44.05%)

Dundalk–Carlingford

Dundalk–Carlingford: 6 seats ^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Sinn Féin	Antóin Watters [†]	16.48%	1,563
	Fine Gael	John McGahon [*] [a]	14.31%	1,357
	Fianna Fáil	Erin McGreehan [a]	12.14%	1,151	1,216	1,222	1,237	1,535
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Kelly	11.30%	1,072	1,077	1,157	1,216	1,297	1,361
	Fianna Fáil	Conor Keelan [*]	10.66%	1,011	1,015	1,052	1,089	1,221	1,279
	Sinn Féin	Edel Corrigan [*]	9.82%	931	1,005	1,588
	Green	Eoin Daly	8.68%	823	834	875	976	1,112	1,180
	Fine Gael	Roisin Duffy	8.53%	809	823	832	844
	Sinn Féin	Eugene Garvey	8.09%	767	802
Electorate: 20,308  Valid: 9,484  Spoilt: 254  Quota: 1,355  Turnout: 9,738 (48.55%)

Dundalk South

Dundalk South: 7 seats ^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Independent	Maeve Yore [*]	15.52%	1,701
	Green	Marianne Butler [*]	13.66%	1,497
	Sinn Féin	Ruairí Ó Murchú [†] [a]	12.99%	1,423
	Fine Gael	Maria Doyle [*]	12.28%	1,346	1,409
	Sinn Féin	Tomás Sharkey [*]	10.37%	1,136	1,185	1,201	1,264	1,289	1,333	1,336	1,825
	Fianna Fáil	Liam Reilly [*]	9.87%	1,082	1,131	1,142	1,155	1,157	1,229	1,233	1,262	1,300
	Fianna Fáil	Emma Coffey [†]	6.84%	750	805	836	885	888	1,006	1,021	1,098	1,181
	Fine Gael	Linus English	5.80%	635	660	679	701	702	778	792	806	832
	Sinn Féin	Anne Campbell [†]	5.50%	603	621	638	674	695	755	758
	Renua	Niamh Boyle	4.46%	489	524	544	602	603
	Independent	Oliver Morgan	2.69%	295	332	345
Electorate: 23,841  Valid: 10,957  Spoilt: 267  Quota: 1,370  Turnout: 11,224 (47.08%)

Footnotes

1. See change below.

Results by gender

2019 Louth County Council election [8] [9] Candidates by gender
Gender	Number of candidates	% of candidates	Elected councillors	% of councillors
Men	46	76.7%	20	69.0%
Women	14	23.3%	9	31.0%
TOTAL	60		29

Changes after 2019

Party		Outgoing	LEA	Reason	Date	Co-optee
	Independent	Kevin Callan	Drogheda Rural	Elected for two areas; chose to sit for Drogheda Urban	June 2019	Declan Power [10]
	Fine Gael	Oliver Tully	Drogheda Rural	Death on 9 July 2019 [11]	16 September 2019	Eileen Tully [12] [13]
	Sinn Féin	Ruairí Ó Murchú	Dundalk South	Elected for Louth to the 33rd Dáil at the 2020 general election	24 February 2020	Kevin Meenan [14]
	Fine Gael	John McGahon	Dundalk–Carlingford	Elected for the Cultural and Educational Panel to the 26th Seanad at the 2020 Seanad election [15] [16]	20 July 2020	John Reilly [17] [18]
	Fianna Fáil	Erin McGreehan	Dundalk–Carlingford	Nominated by the Taoiseach to the 26th Seanad [19]	20 July 2020	Andrea McKevitt [18]
	Labour	Paul Bell	Drogheda Urban	Resigned on 28 June 2020 on his appointment to the Labour Court [20]	21 September 2020	Fiachra Mac Raghnaill [21]
	Fine Gael	Colm Markey	Ardee	Co-opted to the European Parliament [22]	16 February 2021	Paula Butterly [23]
	Independent	Hugh Conlon	Ardee	Death	July 2021	Bernie Conlon
	Labour	Fiachra Mac Raghnaill	Drogheda Urban	Resigned on 6 February 2023 [24]	21 March 2023	Emma Cutlip Gallagher [25]

Sources

• "Louth County Council - Local Election candidates". RTÉ. 14 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
• "Local Elections Results 2019". Louth County Council. Retrieved 18 June 2019.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
• "Local Elections 2019: Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics" (PDF). Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG). pp. 152–157. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

References

1. Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee No. 1 (13 June 2018). Report 2018 (PDF). Government Publications. pp. 76–79, 155. ISBN   978-1-4064-2990-9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
2. • For the initial order see County of Louth Local Electoral Areas Order 2018 (S.I. No. 626 of 2018). Signed on 19 December 2018by John Paul Phelan, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019.Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 8 May 2019.
   • For the amending order, see County Of Louth Local Electoral Areas And Municipal Districts (Amendment) Order 2019 (S.I. No. 6 of 2019). Signed on 17 January 2019by John Paul Phelan, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019.Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 15 May 2019.
3. DHPLG 2019, p. 152.
4. DHPLG 2019, p. 153.
5. DHPLG 2019, pp. 154–155.
6. DHPLG 2019, p. 156.
7. DHPLG 2019, p. 157.
8. Wall, Martin (26 May 2019) [25 May 2019]. "Louth County Council: Fianna Fáil big winners as Sinn Féin loses three seats". The Irish Times . Dublin. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
9. DHPLG 2019, p. 247.
10. McCabe, Donard (17 June 2019). "Former Fianna Fáil candidate Declan Power co-opted to Louth County Council". Dundalk Democrat . Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
11. O'Driscoll, Marc (10 July 2019). "Local councillor Oliver Tully has died". LMFM . Drogheda. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019.
12. "Eileen Tully co-opted to Louth County Council". LMFM . Drogheda. 1 September 2019. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
13. "Our people: Cllr Eileen Tully". Fine Gael . Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
14. Doyle, Simon (25 February 2020). "Three Sinn Féin members co-opted onto Louth and Meath County Councils". LMFM . Drogheda. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
15. O'Halloran, Marie (4 April 2020). "Seanad election results: Full list of Senators voted in to new Seanad". The Irish Times . Dublin. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
16. Marc O'Driscoll, Marc (31 March 2020). "McGahon wins Seanad Éireann seat". LMFM . Drogheda. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
17. Lynch, David (15 July 2020). "John Reilly co-opted onto Louth County Council for Fine Gael". Dundalk Democrat . Dundalk. Archived from the original on 15 July 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
18. O'Connell, Ruth (20 July 2020). "Reilly and McKevitt formally co-opted onto Louth County Council". LMFM . Drogheda. Archived from the original on 5 September 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
19. "Taoiseach Micheál Martin announces his 11 Seanad nominees". TheJournal.ie. 27 June 2020. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
20. "Paul Bell appointed to Labour Court". Drogheda Life. 9 June 2020. Archived from the original on 20 June 2020.
21. Landy, Barry (21 September 2020). "Labour's MacRaghnaill officially co-opted to Louth County Council". LouthNow. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
22. "Colm Markey confirmed as MEP". European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland. 20 November 2020. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
23. O'Driscoll, Marc (16 February 2021). "Rural development top of agenda for Louth's newest councillor". LMFM . Drogheda. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
24. "Cllr Fiacra Mac Raghnaill to stand down from Louth County Council". Drogheda Independent. 6 February 2023. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024.
25. Roddy, Margaret (21 March 2023). "New Labour councillor Emma Cutlip welcomed to Louth County Council". The Argus (Dundalk). Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.