Kildare South (Dáil constituency)

Kildare South is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects four deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Kildare South
Dáil constituency
Location of Kildare South within Ireland
Major settlements	Athy Castledermot Kildare Monasterevin Newbridge
Current constituency
Created	1997
Seats	3 (1997–2020) 4 (2020–)
TDs	Martin Heydon (FG)   Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (SF)   Seán Ó Fearghaíl (FF)   Mark Wall (Lab)
Local government area	County Kildare
Created from	Kildare
EP constituency	Midlands–North-West

History and boundaries

The constituency was first used at the 1997 general election, when the former 5-seat Kildare constituency was divided into Kildare South and Kildare North.

The Kildare South constituency spans the more rural southern and western areas of County Kildare, taking in the towns of Newbridge, Kildare, Athy, Caragh and many other areas. At the 2020 general election, it gained an extra seat to become a 4-seat constituency.^[1]

The Constituency Review Report 2023 of the Electoral Commission recommended that at the next general election, the boundary of Kildare South be altered with the transfer of territory to Kildare North, Laois and Offaly.^[2]

For the 2024 general election, the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023 defines the constituency as:^[3]

"The county of Kildare, except the part thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Kildare North."

Changes to the Kildare South constituency 1997–present

Years	TDs	Boundaries	Notes
1997–2016	3	County Kildare, except the part in the constituency of Kildare North[4][5]	Created from Kildare,[6] with transfer from Wicklow of the electoral divisions of Ballitore, Belan, Carrigeen, Castledermot, Graney, Inchaquire, Moone, Narraghmore, in the former Rural District of Athy No. 1; Ballymore Eustace, Carnalway, Gilitown, Kilcullen, Kilashee, Newtown, Usk, in the former Rural District of Naas No. 1.
2002–2007	3		Transfer from Kildare North of[7] Ballynadrumny, Cadamstown, Carbury, Carrick, Drehid, Dunfierth, Kilrainy, Windmill Cross, in the former Rural District of Edenderry No. 2.
2007–2011	3		Transfer to Kildare North of[8] Ballynadrumny, Cadamstown, Carbury, Carrick, Drehid, Dunfierth, Kilrainy, Windmill Cross, in the former Rural District of Edenderry No. 2, and Downings, Robertstown, and Timahoe South, in the former Rural District of Naas No. 1.
2011–2016	3		Transfer to Kildare North of[9] Kilpatrick, in the former Rural District of Edenderry No. 2, and Newtown, in the former Rural District of Naas No. 1.
2016–2020	3	County Kildare, except the parts in the constituencies of Kildare North and Laois[10]	Transfer from Kildare North of[11] Kilpatrick and Windmill Cross, in the former Rural District of Edenderry No. 2, and Robertstown and Timahoe South, in the former Rural District of Naas No. 1, Transfer to new constituency of Laois of Ballybrackan, Churchtown, Harristown, Kilberry, Kildangan and Monasterevin, in the former Rural District of Athy No. 1.
2020–	4	County Kildare, except the parts in the constituencies of Kildare North,[1] and in County Laois, the electoral divisions of Ballybrittas, Jamestown, Kilmullen, Portarlington South, in the former Rural District of Mountmellick; and in County Offaly, the electoral division of Portarlington North, in the former Rural District of Tullamore.	Transfer from Kildare North of[12] the electoral division of Carbury, Carrick, Drehid, Kilrainy in the former Edenderry No. 2 Rural District, transfer from the former constituency of Laois of Ballybrackan, Churchtown, Harristown, Kilberry, Kildangan and Monasterevin, in the former Rural District of Athy No. 1, in County Kildare, and of Ballybrittas, Jamestown, Kilmullen, Portarlington South, in the former Rural District of Mountmellick, in County Laois transfer from the former constituency of Offaly of Portarlington North, in the former Rural District of Tullamore.

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Kildare South 1997–
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Ind = Independent   Lab = Labour   SF = Sinn Féin
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
28th	1997[13]		Jack Wall (Lab)		Alan Dukes (FG)		Seán Power (FF)	3 seats 1997–2020
29th	2002[14]				Seán Ó Fearghaíl[a] (FF)
30th	2007[15]
31st	2011[16]						Martin Heydon (FG)
32nd	2016[17]		Fiona O'Loughlin (FF)
33rd	2020[18]		Cathal Berry (Ind)						Patricia Ryan (SF)
34th	2024[19]		Mark Wall (Lab)						Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (SF)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

1. Ó Fearghaíl has served as Ceann Comhairle in the 32nd and 33rd Dáil. He was returned automatically at the 2020 and 2024 general elections.

Elections

^ *: Outgoing TD

2024 general election

Seán Ó Fearghaíl was Ceann Comhairle at the dissolution of the 33rd Dáil and will be returned automatically. The constituency was treated as a three-seater for the purposes of calculating the quota.

2024 general election: Kildare South^[19][20]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Ó Fearghaíl[*]	N/A	Returned automatically
	Fine Gael	Martin Heydon[*]	21.6	9,262	9,278	9,290	9,303	9,407	9,477	9,595	9,628	9,828	10,217	11,364
	Fianna Fáil	Fiona O'Loughlin	17.4	7,489	7,503	7,511	7,528	7,608	7,651	7,697	7,729	7,904	8,312	9,124	9,482
	Sinn Féin	Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh	16.9	7,241	7,264	7,407	7,455	7,491	7,626	7,763	7,912	8,379	9,426	10,151	10,220
	Labour	Mark Wall	15.5	6,654	6,662	6,703	6,722	6,859	7,040	7,251	7,350	7,505	8,744	9,739	9,942
	Social Democrats	Chris Pender	7.3	3,157	3,166	3,372	3,390	3,543	3,617	3,670	3,722	3,888
	Independent	Cathal Berry[*]	7.0	3,007	3,055	3,076	3,162	3,216	3,317	3,441	3,663	4,290	4,767
	Aontú	Melissa Byrne	3.9	1,677	1,692	1,713	1,767	1,784	1,825	1,939	2,380
	Irish Freedom	Anthony Casey	2.2	957	973	981	1,129	1,134	1,165	1,362
	Independent Ireland	William Carton	2.2	955	1,004	1,012	1,065	1,071	1,113
	Independent	Patricia Ryan[*]	1.6	678	703	711	753	762
	Green	Monaa K. Sood	1.4	585	592	613	618
	Independent	Tom McDonnell	1.2	499	530	534
	PBP–Solidarity	Rob Cosgrave[a]	1.2	498	505
	Independent	Leanne O'Neill	0.3	152
	Independent Ireland	Edel Doran	0.3	123
Electorate: 74,423   Valid: 42,934   Spoilt: 271   Quota: 10,734   Turnout: 43,205

1. Cosgrave is a member of Solidarity.

2020 general election

Seán Ó Fearghaíl was Ceann Comhairle at the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil and therefore deemed to be returned automatically. The constituency was treated as a three-seater for the purposes of calculating the quota.

2020 general election: Kildare South^{[18][21][22][23]}

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Ó Fearghaíl[*]	N/A	Returned automatically
	Sinn Féin	Patricia Ryan	21.5	10,155	10,461	10,719	11,072	11,295	12,152
	Fine Gael	Martin Heydon[*]	17.1	8,069	8,120	8,218	8,567	9,010	9,651	11,676	11,710
	Fianna Fáil	Fiona O'Loughlin[*]	12.6	5,927	5,985	6,043	6,176	8,177	8,936	10,370	10,425
	Labour	Mark Wall	12.5	5,899	5,974	6,142	6,648	6,984	7,484
	Independent	Cathal Berry	12.2	5,742	5,961	6,176	6,501	6,876	8,270	10,693	10,940
	Independent	Fiona McLoughlin Healy	7.7	3,616	3,730	3,938	4,221	4,471
	Fianna Fáil	Suzanne Doyle	7.6	3,580	3,665	3,703	3,782
	Green	Ronan Maher	3.5	1,639	1,754	2,144
	Social Democrats	Linda Hayden	2.8	1,338	1,474
	Aontú	Anita Mhic Gib	1.5	697
	Solidarity–PBP	Róisín Uí Bhroin[a]	1.3	598
Electorate: 77,719   Valid: 47,260   Spoilt: 440 (0.9%)   Quota: 11,815   Turnout: 47,700 (61.4%)

1. Uí Bhroin was a member of People Before Profit.

2016 general election

2016 general election: Kildare South^[24][25][17]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fine Gael	Martin Heydon[*]	21.3	7,851	8,048	8,297	10,321
	Fianna Fáil	Fiona O'Loughlin	18.8	6,906	7,073	7,373	7,905	8,149	8,974
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Ó Fearghaíl[*]	17.6	6,469	6,583	6,891	7,166	7,343	8,220
	Labour	Mark Wall	11.6	4,277	4,504	4,764	5,154	5,806	6,864
	Sinn Féin	Patricia Ryan	11.6	4,267	4,459	5,294	5,434	5,485
	Fine Gael	Fiona McLoughlin Healy	8.8	3,250	3,416	3,554
	Independent	Declan Crowe	5.8	2,143	2,609
	Green	Suzanne McEneaney	2.3	836
	Renua	Mary Kennedy	2.1	787
Electorate: 59,162   Valid: 36,786   Spoilt: 386   Quota: 9,197   Turnout: 37,172 (62.8%)

2011 general election

2011 general election: Kildare South^[26][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fine Gael	Martin Heydon	33.3	12,755
	Labour	Jack Wall[*]	27.8	10,645
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Ó Fearghaíl[*]	11.8	4,514	4,961	5,097	5,177	5,315	5,552	8,707
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Power[*]	9.9	3,793	4,307	4,445	4,542	4,650	4,888
	Independent	Paddy Kennedy	7.3	2,806	3,825	4,081	4,387	5,156	6,841	7,710
	Sinn Féin	Jason Turner	6.0	2,308	2,610	2,882	2,905	3,253
	Independent	Clifford T. Reid	2.4	926	1,410	1,644	1,873
	Green	Vivian Cummins	1.4	523	944	1,045
Electorate: 58,867   Valid: 38,270   Spoilt: 353 (0.9%)   Quota: 9,568   Turnout: 38,623 (65.6%)

2007 general election

2007 general election: Kildare South^[15]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Ó Fearghaíl[*]	25.2	8,731
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Power[*]	25.1	8,694
	Labour	Jack Wall[*]	20.7	7,154	7,712	9,145
	Fine Gael	Richard Daly	9.7	3,353	3,654	4,039
	Fine Gael	Alan Gillis	7.5	2,586	2,861	3,178
	Green	J. J. Power	6.2	2,136	2,658
	Progressive Democrats	Jane Mullins	4.4	1,513
	Independent	Tom Doyle	1.2	424
Electorate: 56,670   Valid: 34,591   Spoilt: 347 (1.0%)   Quota: 8,648   Turnout: 34,938 (61.7%)

2002 general election

2002 general election: Kildare South^[14]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Power[*]	23.9	7,782	7,817	7,860	9,169
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Ó Fearghaíl	22.6	7,370	7,458	7,501	8,426
	Labour	Jack Wall[*]	18.5	6,043	6,148	6,264	7,443	7,849	7,977
	Fine Gael	Alan Dukes[*]	15.2	4,967	5,040	5,546	7,170	7,650	7,790
	Progressive Democrats	John Dardis	11.9	3,887	3,946	4,058
	Green	J. J. Power	3.7	1,208	1,335	1,351
	Fine Gael	Rainsford Hendy	2.5	828	850
	Independent	Ger Fitzgibbon	1.7	546
Electorate: 58,354   Valid: 32,631   Spoilt: 501 (1.5%)   Quota: 8,158   Turnout: 33,132 (56.8%)

1997 general election

1997 general election: Kildare South^[13][27]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fine Gael	Alan Dukes[*]	21.7	6,260	6,426	7,419
	Labour	Jack Wall	20.3	5,834	6,077	6,251	6,870	7,039
	Fianna Fáil	Sean Power[*]	19.7	5,665	6,048	6,124	8,066
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Ó Fearghaíl	15.6	4,503	4,750	4,795	5,907	6,601
	Progressive Democrats	John Dardis	13.5	3,895	4,038	4,114
	Fine Gael	Rainsford F. Hendy	4.8	1,371	1,399
	Fianna Fáil	Christy Walsh	2.3	662
	Independent	Francis J. Browne	2.1	618
Electorate: 47,030   Valid: 28,808   Spoilt: 365 (1.3%)   Quota: 7,203   Turnout: 29,173 (60.9%)

See also

• Elections in the Republic of Ireland
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• List of Dáil by-elections
• List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland