2019 Sligo County Council election

2019 Sligo County Council election
← 2014 24 May 2019 2024 →
All 18 seats on Sligo County Council
10 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin
Seats won 6 5 2
Seat change Increase 3 Decrease 3 Steady
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party People Before Profit Inds. 4 Change Independent
Seats won 1 1 3
Seat change Steady Increase 1 Steady
Results by local electoral area

An election to all 18 seats on Sligo County Council was held on 24 May 2019 as part of the 2019 Irish local elections. County Sligo was divided into 3 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

At the 2014 Sligo County Council election, County Sligo was divided into two local electoral areas, both of which breached upper limit of 7 seats in the terms of reference of the 2018 LEA boundary review. Following its recommendations, the boundaries were redrawn to create three LEAs.[1][2]

Overview

A total of 35 candidates contested the county's 18 seats,[3] of whom fifteen were outgoing councillors.[4] Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael each had nine candidates. Sinn Féin had three, Solidarity/People Before Profit had two, while and one each for the Labour Party, Green Party and Renua. The nine independent candidates included Declan Bree, who was County Sligo's longest serving councillor. Thirteen of the fifteen candidates who were outgoing councillors were re-elected,[4] including Bree who was first elected in 1974 to both the County Council and Sligo Borough Council.[3]

Several seats were decided by very narrow margins, and result was that Fine Gael gained three seats to become the largest party, with six seats. Fianna Fáil lost three seats, and the other group totals were unchanged.[5] The long-serving Bree was re-elected in the Sligo–Strandhill LEA.[6]

Results by party

Party Seats ± 1st pref FPv% ±%
Fine Gael 6 Increase3 10,171 30.30 Increase5.40
Fianna Fáil 5 Decrease3 9,599 28.59 Decrease1.11
Sinn Féin 2 Steady 2,752 8.20 Decrease2.10
People Before Profit 1 Steady 1,332 3.97 Increase1.37
Inds. 4 Change 1 Increase1 1,550 4.62 New
Labour 0 Steady 470 1.40 Decrease2.70
Renua 0 Steady 315 0.94 New
Green 0 Steady 175 0.52 Increase 0.52
United Left 0 Decrease1 N/A N/A N/A
Independent 3 Steady 7,187 21.41 Decrease0.99
Total 18 Steady 33,571 100.00 Steady

Results by local electoral area

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

Ballymote–Tubbercurry

Ballymote–Tubbercurry: 7 seats[7][8]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fianna Fáil Paul Taylor[*] 11.80% 1,886 1,900 2,076              
Independent Joe Queenan[*] 10.86% 1,737 1,763 1,773 1,775 1,806 1,822 2,158      
Independent Michael Clarke[*] 9.77% 1,562 1,603 1,614 1,615 1,664 1,693 2,076      
Fine Gael Gerard Mullaney 9.53% 1,523 1,551 1,556 1,557 1,565 1,635 1,747 1,798 1,819 1,853
Fine Gael Dara Mulvey[*] 9.36% 1,497 1,538 1,583 1,584 1,624 1,931 2,062      
Fianna Fáil Martin Baker[*] 8.96% 1,432 1,472 1,510 1,521 1,535 1,793 1,821 1,869 1,895 1,902
Fine Gael Blair Feeney 7.54% 1,206 1,219 1,221 1,221 1,227 1,241        
Independent Willie Gormley 6.54% 1,046 1,098 1,175 1,186 1,455 1,743 1,786 1,804 1,821 1,826
Fianna Fáil Keith Henry[†] 6.39% 1,022 1,050 1,092 1,109 1,146          
Fine Gael Martin Connolly 6.32% 1,011 1,019 1,193 1,214 1,732 1,783 1,868 1,893 1,906 1,923
Independent Barry Gallagher 5.93% 948 998 1,097 1,109            
Fianna Fáil Romuald Mullarkey 4.33% 692 699                
Sinn Féin Daniel Gallagher 2.66% 425                  
Electorate: 24,389   Valid: 15,989   Spoilt: 198   Quota: 1,999   Turnout: 16,187 (66.37%)  

The Fine Gael director of elections made a formal complaint about the large increase in the number of postal votes cast — 252 compared to 131 in the same district in the 2014 election and 20 and 17 in the other two districts in 2019.[9] The ensuing Garda investigation into potential electoral fraud was still ongoing in February 2022.[10]

Sligo–Drumcliff

Sligo–Drumcliff: 5 seats[11][12]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Sinn Féin Thomas Healy[*] 15.11% 1,370 1,402 1,437 1,610      
Fianna Fáil Dónal Gilroy 13.87% 1,257 1,279 1,322 1,435 1,450 1,534  
Fine Gael Thomas Walsh 13.46% 1,220 1,236 1,252 1,322 1,339 1,613  
Independent Marie Casserly[*] 12.94% 1,173 1,211 1,250 1,460 1,504 1,688  
Fine Gael Tom Fox 11.45% 1,038 1,049 1,060 1,112 1,116 1,320 1,375
Fianna Fáil Seamus Kilgannon[*] 10.20% 925 941 964 1,052 1,063 1,168 1,217
Fine Gael Ciara McLoughlin 9.27% 840 857 873 926 934    
People Before Profit Nigel Gallagher 4.78% 433 475 491        
Fianna Fáil Colm McGurran 3.66% 332 333 348        
Independent Amanda Gallagher 2.84% 257 267          
Inds. 4 Change Corey Whyte 2.23% 202            
Electorate: 16,154   Valid: 9,065   Spoilt: 127   Quota: 1,511   Turnout: 9,192 (56.9%)  

Sligo–Strandhill

Sligo–Strandhill: 6 seats[6][13]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6
Inds. 4 Change Declan Bree[*] 15.83% 1,348          
Fianna Fáil Tom Macsharry[*] 12.23% 1,042 1,053 1,125 1,140    
Fianna Fáil Rosaleen O'Grady[*] 11.87% 1,011 1,016 1,057 1,069 1,145 1,217
Sinn Féin Chris MacManus[†][a] 11.24% 957 967 988 1,012 1,099 1,167
Fine Gael Blaine Gaffney 10.81% 921 926 958 971 1,016 1,100
Fine Gael Sinead Maguire[*] 10.74% 915 942 976 984 1,022 1,203
People Before Profit Gino O'Boyle[†] 10.56% 899 925 944 976 1,061 1,164
Labour Nessa Cosgrove 5.52% 470 537 567 583 606  
Independent Jim McGarry 5.45% 464 470 495 506    
Renua Finbarr Filan 3.70% 315 320        
Green Miranda O'Donnell 2.05% 175          
Electorate: 16,754   Valid: 8,517   Spoilt: 133   Quota: 1,217   Turnout: 8,650 (51.63%)  

Footnotes

  1. ^ See change below.

Results by gender

2019 Sligo County Council election[5][14]
Candidates by gender
Gender Number of
candidates 		% of
candidates 		Elected
councillors 		% of
councillors
Men 29 87.9% 15 83.3%
Women 4 12.1% 3 16.7%
TOTAL 33   18  

Changes after 2019

Co-options

Party Outgoing LEA Reason Date Co-optee
Sinn Féin Chris MacManus Sligo–Strandhill Replaced Matt Carthy in the European Parliament March 2020 Arthur Gibbons

References

Sources

  • "Sligo County Council - Local Election candidates". RTÉ. 13 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  • "Count Results". Elections 2019. Sligo County Council. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  • "Local Elections 2019: Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics" (PDF). Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG). pp. 184–186. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

Citations

  1. ^ Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee No. 1 (13 June 2018). Report 2018 (PDF). Government Publications. pp. 100–103, 161. ISBN 978-1-4064-2990-9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2019.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ County of Sligo Local Electoral Areas Order 2018 (S.I. No. 632 of 2018). Signed on 19 December 2018 by 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.
  3. ^ a b Deering, Paul (18 May 2019). "Thirty five candidates fighting for 18 seats Seven parties with candidates in the field along with independents across three areas". Sligo Champion. Sligo. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b DHPLG 2019, p. 248.
  5. ^ a b McDonagh, Marese (27 May 2019). "Sligo County Council results: 'Democracy has made statement,' says Joe Queenan". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b DHPLG 2019, p. 186.
  7. ^ DHPLG 2019, p. 184.
  8. ^ "Local elections 2019 — Ballymote–Tubbercurry Results". sligococo.ie. Sligo County Council. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  9. ^ Mhonacháin, Sorcha Ní (22 February 2022). "Inquiry into alleged electoral fraud in Sligo-Leitrim". Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  10. ^ McDonagh, Marese (24 May 2019). "Local election result may be challenged amid electoral fraud allegations". The Irish Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  11. ^ DHPLG 2019, p. 185.
  12. ^ "Local elections 2019 — Sligo-Drumcliff Results". sligococo.ie. Sligo County Council. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Local elections 2019 — Sligo-Strandhill Results". sligococo.ie. Sligo County Council. Archived from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  14. ^ DHPLG 2019, p. 247.