Irish local elections, 2004

Irish local elections, 2004

1999 ← 5 June 2004 → 2009

1,627 County, City, Borough and Town Council Seats   First party Second party Third party   Leader Bertie Ahern Enda Kenny Pat Rabbitte Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Party Leader since 7 May 2008 6 June 2002 13 October 2001 Percentage 31.8% 27.6% 14.2% Largest Party 16 10 4 Councillors 542 468 188 Councillors +/- 129 32 18   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gerry Adams Trevor Sargent Mary Harney Party Sinn Féin Green Party Progressive Democrats Leader since 13 November 1983 6 November 2001 26 October 1993 Percentage 8.1% 3.9% 3.9% Largest Party 1 N/A N/A Councillors 127 32 32 Councillors +/- 63 15 No Change

The 2004 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on 11 June 2004, on the same day as the European elections and referendum on the twenty-seventh amendment of the constitution. Polling was delayed until 19 June 2004 in County Roscommon, due to the sudden death of Councillor Gerry Donnelly.

Turnout was the highest for 20 years at around 60%, but the result was a major setback for Fianna Fáil, which saw its share of the vote drop by 7 percentage points from its 1999 result to only 32%, losing 20% of its council seats. The party lost its majority on Clare County Council for the first time in 70 years, and fell behind Fine Gael in Galway, Limerick and Waterford city councils. Labour's share of the vote remained static at 11% while Fine Gael dropped 1%. Both parties however won seats with the Labour Party becoming the largest party on Dublin City Council. Major gains were made by Sinn Féin which managed to double the number of seats it held, mainly at the expense of Fianna Fáil.

These were the first elections since the Local Government Act 2001 modernised council structures and abolished the dual mandate. Many new councillors were elected for the first time, most notably on Dublin City Council, where 33 of the 52 members were first-timers, which the City Manager described as "unprecedented in the history of local government". Many of the seats vacated by TDs and senators were won by family members.

Results

County, city and town council seats

Party		Seats	±
	Fianna Fáil	542	–129
	Fine Gael	468	+32
	Labour Party	188	+18
	Sinn Féin	125	+63
	Green Party	32	+19
	Progressive Democrats	32	±0
Others		240	–3
Total		1627	—

County and City Councils

Party		Seats	±	First Pref. Votes	% FPv	±%
	Fianna Fáil	302	–80	578,139	31.8	–7.1
	Fine Gael	293	+16	503,088	27.6	–0.5
	Labour Party	101	+18	207,518	11.4	+0.6
	Sinn Féin	54	+33	146,391	8.0	+4.5
	Progressive Democrats	19	–6	69,650	3.8	+0.9
	Green Party	18	+10	71,052	3.9	+1.4
	Socialist Party	4	+2	13,494	0.7	+0.3
	Independent Fianna Fáil	2	-2	9,356	0.5	—
	Workers' Party	2	-1	4,170	0.2	-0.3
	South Kerry Independent	1	—	1,618	0.1	—
	Socialist Workers	0	—	6,125	0.3	+0.2
	Republican Sinn Féin	0	-1	2,036	0.1	—
	Christian Solidarity	0	—	281	0.0	-0.1
	Independent	87	+11	207,207	11.4	-0.2
Total		883	—	1,820,125	100	—

County councils

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		PD		GP		SF	Other
Carlow	8		7		4		1		1		0		0
Cavan	11		11		0		0		0		3		0
Clare	13		10		1		0		1		0		7
Cork	16		24		5		1		0		2		2
Donegal	14		8		0		0		0		4		3
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown	7		9		6		1		4		0		1
Fingal	4		5		6		1		3		1		4
Galway	10		10		1		3		0		1		5
Kerry	11		8		2		2		0		2		4
Kildare	10		7		4		0		0		1		3
Kilkenny	8		11		5		0		1		0		1
Laois	11		9		1		1		1		0		2
Leitrim	10		8		0		0		0		2		2
Limerick	12		12		1		0		3		0		0
Longford	9		10		0		0		0		0		2
Louth	9		7		1		0		0		5		4
Mayo	12		15		1		0		0		1		2
Meath	12		9		0		0		1		2		5
Monaghan	5		7		0		0		0		7		1
Offaly	8		6		0		2		0		0		5
Roscommon	9		10		0		0		0		1		6
Sligo	10		10		3		0		0		1		1
South Dublin	6		3		7		2		2		3		3
North Tipperary	10		5		2		0		0		4		4
South Tipperary	10		8		2		0		0		0		6
Waterford	7		11		4		0		0		1		0
Westmeath	9		8		6		0		0		0		0
Wexford	6		7		1		0		0		3		4
Wicklow	6		7		6		0		0		1		4

City councils

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		PD		GP		SF	Other
Cork City	11		8		6		1		1		2		2
Dublin City	12		10		15		1		1		10		3
Galway City	2		3		4		3		1		1		1
Limerick City	2		5		4		0		0		0		0
Waterford City	1		4		3		0		0		2		5

Town councils

Party		Seats	±
	Fianna Fáil	240	–49
	Fine Gael	175	+16
	Labour Party	87	±0
	Sinn Féin	71	+30
	Progressive Democrats	13	+6
	Green Party	14	+9
Others		144	–12
Total		744	—

References

• "2004 Local Elections". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 2008-02-20. 

See also

• Local government in the Republic of Ireland
• Category:Irish local government councils