2004 Irish local elections

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

2004 Irish local elections

← 1999 11 June 2004 2009 →
1,627 County, City, Borough and Town Council Seats
Turnout	58.64% 8.45pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Bertie Ahern Enda Kenny Pat Rabbitte Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Leader since 19 November 1994 6 June 2002 13 October 2001 Percentage 31.8% 27.6% 14.2% Largest Party on Council 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 Progressive Democrats Leader since 13 November 1983 6 November 2001 26 October 1993 Percentage 8.1% 3.9% 3.9% Largest Party on Council 1 N/A N/A Councillors 127 32 32 Councillors +/- 63 15

Turnout was the highest for 20 years at around 60%,^[1] helped by the extra publicity of the referendum. The result was a setback for Fianna Fáil, which saw its share of the vote drop by 7 percentage points from its 1999 result to 32%, losing 20% of its council seats.^[2] 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.^[3] Labour's share of the vote remained static at 11% while Fine Gael dropped 1%. However, both parties gained 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, including 33 of the 52 of the councillors on Dublin City Council, which the city manager described as "unprecedented in the history of local government".^[3] Many of the seats vacated by TDs and senators were won by family members.^[4]

Results

Voters received different-coloured ballot papers for the European election, city/county council election, and referendum, all of which went into the same ballot box and were separated by colour once the boxes arrived at the count centre for the city/county. According to the different franchises in Irish law, all residents were eligible to vote in the local elections, all EU citizens were eligible to vote in the European elections, and the referendum was confined to Irish citizens. Voters in towns with town councils received an additional ballot for that election, cast in a separate ballot box and counted locally within the town.^[5]

County, city and town council seats

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

County and City Councils

Vote share of parties in the election for County and City Councils

  Fianna Fáil (31.8%)

  Fine Gael (27.6%)

  Labour Party (11.4%)

  Sinn Féin (8.0%)

  Green Party (3.9%)

  Progressive Democrats (3.8%)

  Other (13.5%)

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	302	80	578,139	31.8	7.1
	Fine Gael	293	16	503,088	27.6	0.5
	Labour	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	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
	SKIA	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 and City Council Seats

Political Parties	County council	City council
Fianna Fáil	274	28
Fine Gael	263	30
Labour Party	69	32
Sinn Féin	39	15
Progressive Democrats	14	5
Green Party	15	3
Other	85	11

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		PDs		GP		SF		IFF		WP		WUA		SKIA		Ind	Total	Details
Carlow	8		7		4		1		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		21	Details
Cavan	11		11		0		0		0		3		0		0		0		0		0		25	Details
Clare	13		10		1		0		1		0		0		0		0		0		7		32	Details
Cork City	11		8		6		1		1		2		0		0		0		0		2		31	Details
Cork County	16		24		5		1		0		2		0		0		0		0		2		48	Details
Donegal	14		8		0		0		0		4		2		0		0		0		1		29	Details
Dublin City	12		10		15		1		1		10		0		0		0		0		3		52	Details
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown	7		9		6		1		4		0		0		0		0		0		1		28	Details
Fingal	4		5		6		1		3		1		0		0		0		0		4		24	Details
Galway City	2		3		4		3		1		1		0		0		0		0		1		15	Details
Galway County	10		10		1		3		0		1		0		0		0		0		5		30	Details
Kerry	11		8		2		0		0		2		0		0		0		1		3		27	Details
Kildare	10		7		4		0		1		0		0		0		0		0		3		25	Details
Kilkenny	8		11		5		0		1		0		0		0		0		0		1		26	Details
Laois	11		9		1		1		0		1		0		0		0		0		2		25	Details
Leitrim	10		8		0		0		0		2		0		0		0		0		2		22	Details
Limerick City	2		5		4		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		6		17	Details
Limerick County	12		12		1		3		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		28	Details
Longford	9		10		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		2		21	Details
Louth	9		7		1		0		0		5		0		0		0		0		4		26	Details
Mayo	12		15		1		0		0		1		0		0		0		0		2		31	Details
Meath	12		9		0		0		1		2		0		0		0		0		5		25	Details
Monaghan	5		7		0		0		0		7		0		0		0		0		1		20	Details
Offaly	8		6		0		2		0		0		0		0		0		0		5		21	Details
Roscommon	9		10		0		0		0		1		0		0		0		0		6		26	Details
Sligo	10		10		3		0		0		1		0		0		0		0		1		25	Details
South Dublin	6		3		7		2		2		3		0		0		0		0		3		26	Details
North Tipperary	10		5		2		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		4		21	Details
South Tipperary	10		8		2		0		0		0		0		0		3		0		3		26	Details
Waterford City	1		4		3		0		0		2		0		2		0		0		3		15	Details
Waterford County	7		11		4		0		0		1		0		0		0		0		0		23	Details
Westmeath	9		8		6		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		23	Details
Wexford	6		7		1		0		0		3		0		0		0		0		4		21	Details
Wicklow	6		7		6		0		1		0		0		0		0		0		4		24	Details

Borough and town councils

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

Borough councils

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		SF		GP		PDs	Other
Clonmel	3		2		1						1		5[a]
Drogheda	3		2		2		2						3
Kilkenny	4		4		3				1
Sligo	4		2		3		3
Wexford	2		2		5		1						2
Total	16		12		14		6		1		1		10

Town councils

Town		FF		FG		Lab		SF		GP		PDs		Ind	Total
Ardee	2		3		1		1				1		1		9
Arklow	3		2		2								2		9
Athlone	4		2		1		1						1		9
Athy	2		3		3		1								9
Balbriggan	2		1		2				1		1		2		9
Ballina	4		2				1				1		1		9
Ballinasloe	3		1				1						4		9
Ballybay	3		3				2						1		9
Ballyshannon	3		4				1						1		9
Bandon	3		4				1						1		9
Bantry	4		3				1						1		9
Belturbet	4		3										2		9
Birr	2		3		1						1		2		9
Boyle	3		3		1								2		9
Bray	3		1		4		1		3						12
Buncrana	3		2				2						2		9
Bundoran	5		2				1		1						9
Carlow	3		3		2						1				9
Carrickmacross	3		2				3						1		9
Carrick-on-Suir	3		1		2		1						2		9
Cashel	2				1		1						5		9
Castlebar	3		3		1		1						1		9
Castleblayney	3		1				3						2		9
Cavan	4		3		1		1								9
Clonakilty	2		2				2						3		9
Clones	3		1				4						1		9
Cobh	1		2		3		1						2		9
Cootehill	3		3				2						1		9
Dundalk	3		2				3		1				3		12
Dungarvan	2		2		3		1						1		9
Edenderry	5		2								1		1		9
Ennis	3		2						1				3		9
Enniscorthy	3		2				1						3		9
Fermoy			1		1		1				1		5		9
Gorey	4		3		1		1								9
Granard	3		2		1								3		9
Greystones	3		3		1								2		9
Kells	4		1		2		1						1		9
Kilkee	5		2										2		9
Killarney	3		1		1								4[b]		9
Kilrush	4		1										4		9
Kinsale	2		4		1				1				1		9
Leixlip	2		2		2				1				2		9
Letterkenny	4		1				1		1				2		9
Lismore	4		3		1								1		9
Listowel	4		3		1		1								9
Longford	2		3				1				1		2		9
Loughrea	3		1								1		4		9
Macroom	2		4		2								1		9
Mallow	2		2		3		1						1		9
Midleton	3		2				1						3		9
Monaghan	3		2				4								9
Mountmellick	6		2										1		9
Muine Bheag	5		2		2										9
Mullingar	2		2		4								1		9
Naas	3		1		1				1		1		2		9
Navan	4		2				2						1		9
Nenagh	3		1		2		1						2		9
Newbridge	3		2		1						1		2		9
New Ross	4		2		2		1								9
Passage West	3		3				1		1				1		9
Portlaoise	3		3				1						2		9
Shannon	2		2		2								3		9
Skibbereen	2		3		2		1						1		9
Templemore	4		3										2		9
Thurles	1		1		2		1						4		9
Tipperary	2		2		1								4		9
Tralee	4		1		3		2						2		12
Tramore	3		3		1								2		9
Trim	2		2		1		1						3		9
Tuam	1		3								1		4		9
Tullamore	3		2		2								2		9
Westport	3		3				1						2		9
Wicklow	2		2		2		1						2		9
Youghal	3		2				2		1				1		9

Notes

1. Includes 5 borough councillors for the Workers and Unemployed Action Group.
2. Michael Gleeson of the South Kerry Independent Alliance is included in this total.

References

• "2004 Local Elections". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
• "2004 Local Elections". Irish Elections. Retrieved 28 May 2024.

1. Donnelly, Seán (14 June 2004). "The best local election turnout in nearly 20 years". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
2. Hennessy, Mark; O'Regan, Michael (15 June 2004). "'A very bad performance' – Ahern". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
3. McDonald, Frank (15 June 2004). "FF will find loss of power a bitter pill to swallow". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
4. O'Halloran, Marie (15 June 2004). "Politicians hit by dual-mandate ban opt to pass on council mantle to their relatives". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
5. Murphy, Tom (10 June 2004). "91,000 people are eligible to vote". Wicklow People. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.