2019 Galway City Council election

A Galway City Council election was held in Galway in Ireland on 24 May 2019 as part of that year's local elections. All 18 councillors were elected for a five-year term of office from 3 local electoral areas (LEAs) by single transferable vote. Following a recommendation of the 2018 LEA boundary review committee, the only change to the LEAs and seat distribution used in the 2014 elections was to move the electoral division of Claddagh from the West LEA to the Central LEA in line with population changes revealed by the 2016 census.[1][2]

2019 Galway City Council election

24 May 2019
All 18 seats to Galway City Council 10 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Green Party Seats won 5 3 2 Seat change 2 1 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Labour Party Social Democrats Independent Seats won 1 1 6 Seat change 1 1
Map showing the area of Galway City Council
Council control after election TBD

This is expected to be the last election to Galway City Council as plans were announced in 2018 to merge the City and County Councils by 2021.[3]

Fianna Fáil became the largest party on the City Council gaining 2 seats in the process. Fine Gael lost 1 seat despite slightly increasing their vote. The Green Party emerged as the big winners winning 2 seats; 1 in each of Galway City Central and Galway City West and a nearly 5 fivefold increase in voteshare. Following two recounts the Social Democrats held onto a seat in Galway City East at the expense of Sinn Féin, and lost a seat in City Central to the Greens. Sinn Féin lost all their seats as their vote collapsed almost in half. To a significant extent the rise in support for both the Social Democrats and the Greens contributed to the loss for Sinn Féin.

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	First Pref. votes	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	5	2	4,848	20.47%	0.97%
	Fine Gael	3	1	3,752	15.85%	0.05%
	Green Party	2	2	2,230	9.42%	7.23%
	Labour Party	1	1	1,651	6.97%	3.83%
	Social Democrats	1	1	1,419	5.99%	5.99%
	Sinn Féin	0	3	1,272	5.37%	4.13%
	Aontú	0		574	2.42%	2.42%
	People Before Profit	0		377	1.59%	1.00%
	Renua	0		225	0.95%	0.95%
	Solidarity	0		203	0.86%	3.65%
	Independent	6		7,134	30.13%	6.97%
Totals		18		23,679	100%

Results by LEA

Galway City Central

Galway City Central — 6 Seats[4]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	Independent	Mike Cubbard[c 1]	16.16%	1,292
	Fianna Fáil	Ollie Crowe[c 1]††	12.61%	1,008	1,024	1,036	1,053	1,065	1,072	1,160
	Fine Gael	Eddie Hoare	10.68%	854	866	881	937	951	967	1,023	1,108	1,109	1,188
	Fine Gael	Frank Fahy[c 1]	8.68%	694	709	721	757	780	790	833	927	931	1,010	1,029
	Green Party	Martina O'Connor	6.80%	544	552	571	590	618	684	720	769	768	912	924
	Labour Party	John McDonagh	6.59%	527	547	579	602	636	656	694	759	768
	Social Democrats	Sharon Nolan	6.44%	515	525	534	539	576	741	762	793	788	870	873
	Independent	Colette Connolly[c 2]	6.17%	493	510	526	551	590	648	701	800	804	963	974
	Fianna Fáil	Imelda Byrne	6.13%	490	497	516	535	551	568	609
	Aontú	Cormac Ó Corcoráin	5.37%	429	434	453	481	493	517
	People Before Profit	Joe Loughnane	4.71%	377	386	396	413	468
	Sinn Féin	Mark Lohan[c 2]	4.10%	328	336	342	345
	Independent	Mike Geraghty	3.04%	243	256	273
	Independent	James O'Toole	1.55%	124	128
	Independent	Daragh O'Flaherty	1.04%	83	86
	Independent	Patrick Feeney	0.01%	1	2
Electorate: 16,241   Valid: 7,996   Spoilt: 150   Quota: 1,143   Turnout: 8,146 (50.16%)

Galway City East

Galway City East — 6 Seats[5]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12	Count 13
	Independent	Declan McDonnell[c 1]	14.71%	1,090
	Fianna Fáil	Alan Cheevers	12.97%	961	967	977	979	993	1,004	1,021	1,049	1,052	1,079
	Independent	Terry O'Flaherty[c 1]	12.65%	937	942	957	965	997	1,025	1,044	1,071
	Fianna Fáil	Michael John Crowe[c 1]	10.19%	755	759	763	766	779	791	797	818	819	845	868	972	978
	Independent	Noel Larkin[c 1]	9.11%	675	687	694	701	722	739	751	761	762	811	849	1,006	1,015
	Sinn Féin	Mairéad Farrell[c 1]	7.04%	522	529	544	546	557	571	617	625	626	659	727	772	772
	Fine Gael	John Walsh[c 1]	6.15%	456	463	468	471	475	486	489	577	581	603	645
	Social Democrats	Owen Hanley	5.57%	413	416	417	418	428	447	502	513	514	537	728	786	790
	Green Party	Claire Hillery	5.16%	382	385	388	388	398	422	455	467	467	495
	Renua	Neil O'Mahony	3.04%	225	230	287	288	300	303	309	316	317
	Fine Gael	Donal Lynch	2.91%	216	216	218	219	240	249	250
	Solidarity	Conor Burke	2.74%	203	207	211	212	219	239
	Labour Party	Liam Boyle	2.47%	183	187	190	191	200
	Independent	Michael Tully	2.46%	182	184	189	190
	Aontú	Nuala Nolan	1.96%	145	145
	Independent	Pat Hardiman	0.88%	65
Electorate: 15,370   Valid: 7,410   Spoilt: 118   Quota: 1,059   Turnout: 7,528 (48.98%)

Galway City West

Galway City West — 6 Seats[6]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9
	Independent	Donal Lyons[c 1]	17.68%	1,463
	Green Party	Pauline O'Reilly[c 3]†	15.76%	1,304
	Labour Party	Níall McNelis[c 1]	11.37%	941	1,030	1,062	1,070	1,085	1,105	1,152	1,243
	Fianna Fáil	Peter Keane[c 1]	10.88%	900	935	940	944	946	965	987	1,016	1,059
	Fine Gael	Clodagh Higgins	9.80%	811	851	867	871	878	890	916	941	1,040
	Fianna Fáil	John Connolly	8.87%	734	764	769	775	779	808	825	891	960
	Fine Gael	Pearce Flannery[c 1]	8.72%	721	752	759	761	769	772	786	809	882
	Social Democrats	John Crowley	5.93%	491	503	540	548	566	574	613	705
	Sinn Féin	Cathal Ó Conchúir[c 1]	5.10%	422	434	440	444	455	461	473
	Independent	Marian Maloney	2.21%	183	198	204	210	222	240
	Independent	Tommy Roddy	1.66%	137	145	147	160	166
	Independent	Marc Anderson	1.10%	91	95	98	111
	Independent	Darius Ivan	0.36%	30	33	34
	Independent	Claire Keegan	0.36%	30	31	33
	Independent	Patrick Feeney	0.18%	15	16	16
Electorate: 16,574   Valid: 8,273   Spoilt: 125   Quota: 1,182   Turnout: 8,398 (50.67%)

Footnotes

1. Outgoing councillor elected in 2014.
2. Outgoing councillor coopted after the 2014 election.
3. Elected to Seanad Éireann on 1 April 2020.

Changes since 2019 Local Elections

• †Galway City West Green Party Cllr Pauline O'Reilly was elected to the Seanad in April 2020. Niall Murphy was chosen to fill the vacancy.[7]
• ††Galway City Central Fianna Fáil Cllr Ollie Crowe was elected to the Seanad in April 2020. Imelda Byrne was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 8 June.[8]

References

Citations

1. Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee No. 2 (13 June 2018). "Report 2018" (PDF). Government Publications. pp. 30–33, 56. ISBN 978-1-4064-2991-6. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
2. Phelan, John Paul (19 December 2018). "S.I. No. 617/2018 - City of Galway Local Electoral Areas Order 2018". electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB). Retrieved 8 May 2019.
3. Kelly, Briain (7 June 2018). "City and County councils will merge by 2021". Galway Daily. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
4. Bradley, Dara (27 May 2019). "RESULT: City Central count completed". Connacht Tribune. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
5. Corrigan, Stephen (27 May 2019). "13th Count (Recount) Galway East: RESULT". Connacht Tribune. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
6. Bradley, Dara (27 May 2019). "RESULT: Galway City West". Connacht Tribune. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
7. https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/114901/greens-select-oreilly-replacement-for-city-council
8. https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/115050/will-councillors-provide-the-strong-leadership-needed-after-covid-19

Sources

• "Galway City Council - Local Election candidates". RTÉ. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.