2019 Wicklow County Council election

An election to Wicklow County Council took place on 24 May 2019 as part of the Irish local elections. 32 councillors were elected from six local electoral areas (LEAs) on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) for a five-year term of office.

2019 Wicklow County Council election

24 May 2019
All 32 seats to Wicklow County Council 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin Seats won 9 7 2 Seat change 1 4   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Green Party Labour Party Social Democrats Seats won 2 2 1 Seat change 1 2 1   Seventh party   Party Independent Seats won 9 Seat change 1
Map showing the area of Wicklow County Council
Council control before election Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Independent Council control after election Fine Gael Fianna Fáil

In 2014, there were five LEAs each electing between 6 and 8 councillors. Following the recommendations of the Local Area Boundary Committee Report in June 2018, there are now six LEAs each electing between 4 and 6 councillors.[1][2][3]

Fine Gael increased their seat numbers by 1 to emerge with 9 seats while Fianna Fáil retained 7 seats overall. Fianna Fáil again won 3 seats in Arklow but did secure 2 seats in Baltinglass. However they emerged seatless in both LEAs in Bray. Sinn Féin had a very disappointing election losing 4 seats to emerge 2 seats overall both in Bray the base of the TD John Brady. Several party Councillors had quit since 2014 and Gerry O'Neill and John Snell were both re-elected as Independents. The Greens gained an additional seat to return with 2 seats. Labour returned to the Council with 2 seats in Bray and Wicklow while Jennifer Whitmore won a seat for the Social Democrats in Greystones. While there were a lot of changes Independent numbers reduced by just 1 seat to 9.

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±
	Fine Gael	9	1	14,149	26.18%	6.28%
	Fianna Fáil	7		11,924	22.06%	2.16%
	Sinn Féin	2	4	4,224	7.81%	8.89%
	Green Party	2	1	2,698	4.99%	2.59%
	Labour Party	2	2	2,504	4.63%	1.53%
	Social Democrats	1	1	2,861	5.29%	5.29%
	People Before Profit	0		811	1.50%	0.55%
	Aontú	0		605	1.12%	1.12%
	Independent	9	1	14,277	26.41%	9.29%
Total		32		54,054	100%

Retiring incumbents

The following members of Wicklow County Council announced in advance of the poll that they would not be seeking re-election:

LEA	Departing councillor	Party
Baltinglass	Tommy Cullen		Independent
Baltinglass	Pat Doran		Fianna Fáil
Bray	Christopher Fox		Independent
Greystones	Gráinne McLoughlin		Fine Gael
Wicklow	Dáire Nolan		Independent
Baltinglass	Jim Ruttle		Independent
Bray	John Ryan		Fine Gael
Bray	Pat Vance		Fianna Fáil

Results by electoral area

Arklow

Arklow - 6 seats[4]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7
	Fianna Fáil	Pat Kennedy*	24.29%	2,471
	Fianna Fáil	Pat Fitzgerald*	18.23%	1,854
	Independent	Peir Leonard	10.16%	1,033	1,068	1,106	1,178	1,257	1,370	1,466
	Independent	Miriam Murphy*	9.26%	942	1,106	1,158	1,194	1,273	1,387	1,525
	Fine Gael	Sylvester Bourke*	8.77%	892	1,054	1,089	1,107	1,121	1,136	1,425
	Fianna Fáil	Tommy Annesley*	7.57%	770	1,041	1,207	1,245	1,285	1,339	1,413
	Independent	Tommy Breen	6.33%	644	703	754	792	840	950	1,012
	Fine Gael	Chantel Kanowga	5.60%	570	803	813	827	843	885
	Sinn Féin	John Kelly	4.65%	473	527	541	560	581
	Independent	Mary McDonald*	2.67%	272	295	313	331
	Independent	Pat Hoey	2.47%	251	267	283
Electorate: 17,703   Valid: 10,172   Quota: 1,454   Turnout: 57.5%

Baltinglass

Baltinglass - 6 seats[5]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6
	Fine Gael	Edward Timmins*	17.62%	1,875
	Independent	Gerry O'Neill*	17.12%	1,822
	Fianna Fáil	Patsy Glennon	14.14%	1,505	1,579
	Fine Gael	Vincent Blake*	13.91%	1,481	1,526
	Fine Gael	Avril Cronin	11.01%	1,172	1,346	1,447	1,495	1,529
	Fianna Fáil	John Mullen	10.20%	1,086	1,109	1,138	1,179	1,188	1,315
	Sinn Féin	Aidan Kinsella	7.30%	777	786	827	870	871	1,115
	Social Democrats	Dave McGinn	6.33%	674	690	780	850	854
	Independent	Lorraine O'Brien	2.37%	252	265	305
Electorate: 19,530   Valid: 10,644   Quota: 1,521   Turnout: 54.5%

Bray East

Bray East - 4 seats[6]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9
	Green Party	Steven Matthews*†	24.98%	1,579
	Sinn Féin	Grace McManus	15.42%	975	1,010	1,129	1,185	1,233	1,251	1,475
	Fine Gael	Aoife Flynn-Kennedy	8.54%	540	585	598	638	652	931	961	968	1,093
	Labour Party	Anne Ferris	8.53%	539	606	615	680	727	785	859	892	1,007
	Independent	Malachai Duddy	8.18%	517	553	572	598	706	757	833	878	1,006
	Fianna Fáil	Chris Walsh	7.04%	445	469	488	520	553	610	629	646
	Fine Gael	Edward Whelan	6.85%	433	456	459	476	518
	People Before Profit	Sharon Briggs	6.22%	393	413	468	502	538	554
	Aontú	Brendan Thornhill*	5.36%	339	355	379	402
	Independent	Barry Murphy	4.67%	295	303
	Social Democrats	Eamonn Moran	4.22%	267	307	328
Electorate: 11,636   Valid: 6,322   Quota: 1,265   Turnout: 54.3%

Bray West

Bray West - 4 seats[7]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7
	Independent	Joe Behan*	28.87%	1,880
	Fine Gael	Melanie Corrigan	22.16%	1,443
	Sinn Féin	Dermot "Daisy" O'Brien*	13.99%	911	1,012	1,018	1,101	1,197	1,240	1,265
	Independent	Rory O'Connor	8.77%	571	673	696	742	843	984	1,175
	Labour Party	Ian McGahon	7.86%	512	593	607	661	694	793	926
	Fianna Fáil	Sárán Fogarty	5.37%	350	439	453	461	488
	Fine Gael	David Miller	5.18%	337	406	481	488	503	570
	Aontú	Oliver O'Brien*	4.08%	266	357	360	385
	People Before Profit	June Maher	3.72%	242	286	291
Electorate: 12,548   Valid: 6,512   Quota: 1,303   Turnout: 51.9%

Greystones

Greystones - 6 seats[8]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8
	Social Democrats	Jennifer Whitmore*††	19.58%	1,920
	Independent	Tom Fortune*	14.23%	1,396	1,453
	Green Party	Lourda Scott	11.42%	1,120	1,244	1,253	1,312	1,337	1,371	1,613
	Fine Gael	Derek Mitchell*	11.05%	1,084	1,133	1,139	1,146	1,152	1,180	1,256	1,274
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Walsh*	10.54%	1,034	1,068	1,070	1,073	1,100	1,248	1,334	1,348
	Fine Gael	Alice O'Donnell	10.22%	1,002	1,084	1,088	1,093	1,095	1,119	1,177	1,200
	Independent	Mags Crean	8.19%	803	902	915	955	982	991	1,226	1,308
	Sinn Féin	Nicola Lawless*	4.35%	427	442	444	459	476	493
	Labour Party	Anna Waithira Burke	3.78%	371	397	401	423	442	465
	Fianna Fáil	Elaine Wills	2.90%	284	303	309	311	317
	Independent	Charlie Keddy	1.94%	190	192	194	203
	People Before Profit	Pyper Ludlow	1.79%	176	187	189
Electorate: 18,414   Valid: 9,807   Quota: 1,402   Turnout: 53.3%

Wicklow

Wicklow - 6 seats[9]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7
	Fine Gael	Shay Cullen*	21.58%	2,287
	Independent	John Snell*	18.65%	1,976
	Fianna Fáil	Gail Dunne*	12.36%	1,310	1,388	1,462	1,477	1,571
	Labour Party	Paul O'Brien	10.21%	1,082	1,138	1,223	1,240	1,331	1,340	1,486
	Fine Gael	Irene Winters*	9.75%	1,033	1,354	1,388	1,406	1,491	1,502	1,532
	Fianna Fáil	Anne Gregory	7.69%	815	944	968	980	1,031	1,053	1,217
	Independent	Mary Kavanagh*	7.36%	780	811	897	973	1,069	1,081	1,241
	Sinn Féin	Muireann Dalton	6.24%	661	688	733	739	790	793
	Independent	Jimmy O'Shaughnessy	4.34%	460	576	671	690
	Independent	Dáire Fitzgerald	1.82%	193	208	227
Electorate: 20,545   Valid: 10,597   Quota: 1,514   Turnout: 51.6%

Changes Since 2019 Local Elections

• †Bray East Green Party Cllr Steven Matthews was elected to the Dáil in the 2020 General Election for the Wicklow Constituency. His wife, Erike Doyle, was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 25 February 2020.[10]
• ††Greystones Social Democrats Cllr Jennifer Whitmore was elected to the Dáil in the 2020 General Election for the Wicklow Constituency. Jodie Neary was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 25 February 2020[11]

References

1. "S.I. No. 638/2018 - County of Wicklow Local Electoral Areas and Municipal Districts Order 2018". 19 December 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
2. "Local Area Boundary Committee 1 Report 2018" (PDF).
3. "Wicklow's Local Electoral Areas and Polling Districts". Retrieved 6 May 2019.
4. Wicklow County Council. "Local Election Count Results 2019 - Arklow LEA". Wicklow County Council. Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via data.gov.ie.
5. Wicklow County Council. "Local Election Count Results 2019 - Baltinglass LEA". Wicklow County Council. Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via data.gov.ie.
6. Wicklow County Council. "Local Election Count Results 2019 - Bray East LEA". Wicklow County Council. Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via data.gov.ie.
7. Wicklow County Council. "Local Election Count Results 2019 - Bray West LEA". Wicklow County Council. Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via data.gov.ie.
8. Wicklow County Council. "Local Election Count Results 2019 - Greystones LEA". Wicklow County Council. Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via data.gov.ie.
9. Wicklow County Council. "Local Election Count Results 2019 - Wicklow LEA". Wicklow County Council. Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via data.gov.ie.
10. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/braypeople/news/neary-and-doyle-take-their-seats-in-the-county-council-chamber-39011343.html
11. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/braypeople/news/neary-and-doyle-take-their-seats-in-the-county-council-chamber-39011343.html

Preceded by 2014 Wicklow County Council election

Wicklow County Council elections

Succeeded by 2024 Wicklow County Council election