2019 Louth County Council election explained

Election Name:2019 Louth County Council election
Country:Ireland
Map Size:300px
Type:Parliamentary
Ongoing:no
Party Colour:yes
Previous Election:2014 Louth County Council election
Previous Year:2014
Next Election:2024 Louth County Council election
Next Year:2024
Seats For Election:All 29 seats on Louth County Council
Majority Seats:15
Election Date:24 May 2019
Council control before election
Posttitle:Council control after election
After Election:TBD
Party2:Sinn Féin
Seats2:7
Seat Change2: 3
Party1:Fianna Fáil
Seats1:7
Seat Change1: 2
Party3:Fine Gael
Seats3:5
Seat Change3: 2
Party4:Labour Party (Ireland)
Seats4:3
Seat Change4: 1
Party5:Green Party (Ireland)
Seats5:1
Seat Change5: 1
Party6:Independent politician (Ireland)
Seats6:6
Seat Change6: 3

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.

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

PartySeats±±%
7310,65124.107.32
728,62419.510.48
528,89120.120.56
313,5017.922.95
112,8296.402.54
01,4633.31New
01420.321.59
01340.30New
01010.230.06
637,85417.771.27
Totalalign=right 29align=right align=right 44,190align=right 100.00

Results by local electoral area

Footnotes

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Book: Report 2018 . 978-1-4064-2990-9 . Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee No. 1 . 13 June 2018 . Government Publications . 8 May 2019 . 76–79, 155 . 30 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230430065024/https://www.boundarycommittee.ie/reports/Local%20Electoral%20Area%20Boundary%20Committee%20No.1%20Report%20-%202018.pdf . live .