| Election Name: | 1985 Irish local elections |
| Country: | Republic of Ireland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1979 Irish local elections |
| Previous Year: | 1979 |
| Next Election: | 1991 Irish local elections |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
| Election Date: | 20 June 1985 |
| Leader1: | Charles Haughey |
| Leader Since1: | 7 December 1979 |
| Party1: | Fianna Fáil |
| Seats1: | 441 |
| Seat Change1: | 113 |
| Popular Vote1: | 648,070 |
| Percentage1: | 45.6% |
| Swing1: | 6.5% |
| Leader2: | Garret FitzGerald |
| Leader Since2: | 1 July 1977 |
| Party2: | Fine Gael |
| Seats2: | 287 |
| Seat Change2: | 5 |
| Popular Vote2: | 422,045 |
| Percentage2: | 29.7% |
| Swing2: | 5.4% |
| Leader3: | Dick Spring |
| Leader Since3: | 1 November 1982 |
| Party3: | Labour Party (Ireland) |
| Seats3: | 60 |
| Seat Change3: | 15 |
| Popular Vote3: | 109,681 |
| Percentage3: | 7.9% |
| Swing3: | 4.2% |
| Leader4: | Tomás Mac Giolla |
| Leader Since4: | 14 October 1962 |
| Party4: | Workers' Party (Ireland) |
| Seats4: | 20 |
| Seat Change4: | 13 |
| Popular Vote4: | 43,006 |
| Percentage4: | 3.0% |
| Swing4: | 0.3% |
| Leader5: | Gerry Adams |
| Leader Since5: | 13 November 1983 |
| Party5: | Sinn Féin |
| Last Election5: | N/A |
| Seats5: | 10 |
| Seat Change5: | 10 |
| Popular Vote5: | 46,391 |
| Percentage5: | 3.3% |
| Swing5: | 1.7% |
| Image6: | IFF |
| Leader6: | Neil Blaney |
| Leader Since6: | 1972 |
| Party6: | Independent Fianna Fáil |
| Seats6: | 6 |
| Seat Change6: | 2 |
| Popular Vote6: | 11073 |
| Percentage6: | 0.8% |
| Swing6: | 0.0% |
| Image7: | DSP |
| Leader7: | Jim Kemmy |
| Leader Since7: | 1972 |
| Party7: | Democratic Socialist Party |
| Seats7: | 3 |
| Seat Change7: | 3 |
| Popular Vote7: | 5,472 |
| Percentage7: | 0.4% |
| Swing7: | 0.4% |
The 1985 Irish local elections were held in all the local government areas on Thursday, 20 June 1985.
There were two tiers of local government areas. The state was divided into local government areas of administrative counties and county boroughs under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Within administrative counties, there was a second tier in certain areas of boroughs governed by the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 and the 1898 Act, urban districts governed by the 1898 Act, and towns with town commissioners governed by the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854.
The elections had been postponed from June 1984.[1] This allowed the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985 to be enacted beforehand. Each local government area was divided into local electoral areas (LEAs) to be elected on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).
Under the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985:
Two Electoral Area Boundary Commissions proposed changes which were implemented by order of the minister:[2]
| Party | Seats | ± | [4] [5] | ±% | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 441 | 113 | 648,070 | 45.6 | +6.5 | |||
| 287 | 5 | 422,045 | 29.7 | align="right" | -5.4 | ||
| 60 | 15 | 109,681 | 7.9 | align="right" | -4.2 | ||
| 20 | 13 | 43,006 | 3.0 | +0.8 | |||
| 10 | 10 | 46,391 | 3.3 | +1.7 | |||
| 6 | 2 | 11,073 | 0.8 | 0.0 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 5,472 | 0.4 | New | |||
| 1 | 1 | 1,681 | 0.1 | New | |||
| 1 | 0 | 1,506 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |||
| 0 | 0 | 7,446 | 0.5 | New | |||
| 0 | 0 | 593 | 0.0 | New | |||
| 135,603 | 9.6 | align="right" | -2.1 | ||||
| Total | 1,421,494 | 100.0 | — | ||||
| Authority | FF | FG | Lab | WP | SF | Ind/Oth | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlow | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 21 | |||||||||
| Cavan | 14 | 10 | 1 | 25 | ||||||||||
| Clare | 17 | 8 | 7 | 32 | ||||||||||
| Cork City | 13 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 31 | ||||||||
| Cork County | 24 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 48 | ||||||||
| Donegal | 11 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 29 | |||||||||
| Dublin City | 26 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 52 | |||||||
| Dublin–Belgard | 13 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 26 | ||||||||
| Dublin–Fingal | 13 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 24 | |||||||||
| Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown | 13 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 28 | |||||||||
| Galway City | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Galway County | 17 | 9 | 4 | 30 | ||||||||||
| Kerry | 13 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 27 | |||||||||
| Kildare | 10 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 25 | |||||||||
| Kilkenny | 11 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 26 | |||||||||
| Laois | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 25 | |||||||||
| Leitrim | 10 | 8 | 4 | 22 | ||||||||||
| Limerick City | 5 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 17 | |||||||||
| Limerick County | 18 | 10 | 28 | |||||||||||
| Longford | 10 | 9 | 2 | 21 | ||||||||||
| Louth | 12 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 26 | ||||||||
| Mayo | 15 | 14 | 2 | 31 | ||||||||||
| Meath | 17 | 10 | 2 | 29 | ||||||||||
| Monaghan | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 20 | |||||||||
| North Tipperary | 12 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 21 | |||||||||
| Offaly | 12 | 6 | 3 | 21 | ||||||||||
| Roscommon | 13 | 8 | 5 | 26 | ||||||||||
| Sligo | 11 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 25 | |||||||||
| South Tipperary | 14 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 26 | |||||||||
| Waterford City | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 | ||||||||
| Waterford County | 11 | 10 | 2 | 23 | ||||||||||
| Westmeath | 13 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 23 | |||||||||
| Wexford | 11 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 21 | |||||||||
| Wicklow | 13 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 24 | ||||||||
| Totals | 437 | 283 | 58 | 20 | 4 | 81 | 783 | |||||||