The people of Ireland are heading to the polls on Friday, June 7 for local council elections and European Parliament elections. Limerick will also be voting for Ireland’s first-ever directly elected Mayor.
3,762,937 people in Ireland are registered to vote in the local elections. 3,558,051 people are registered to vote in the European elections, and 157,672 people in Limerick city and county can vote for the country’s first directly-elected mayor, according to RTE News.
Polls across Ireland will be open from 7 am to 10 pm on Friday, June 7. When polling is over, all ballot boxes are taken to a central counting place for each constituency.
Counting for the local elections will begin at 9 am on Saturday while counting for the European elections begins once voting has finished across EU member states. The count for Mayor of Limerick is expected to begin on Monday.
In Ireland, there are currently 29 political parties on the Register of Political Parties. However, if a candidate has no affiliation with a particular political party, they may describe themselves as “Non-Party.”
An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the electoral commission in Ireland, has published this video with tips on how to vote on June 7:
Ireland’s voting system
Ireland uses proportional representation (PR) for voting in elections, with each voter having a single transferable vote (STV).
Proportional Representation – Single Transferable Vote (PR-STV) is used for voting in Ireland’s general elections, local elections, European elections, Presidential elections, and Mayoral elections.
PR-STV is a candidate-based system, which means voters can choose to vote for as many or as few candidates as they like, in order of their preference.
The voter’s first preference vote – the candidate they give their number 1 vote to – is most important and is always counted. A voter’s second (and further preferences) may be counted if their preferred candidate is eliminated at the end of a round of counting, or is elected with a surplus. These are known as transfers.
You can learn more about Ireland’s voting system via the Electoral Commission.
Local council elections in Ireland
Local elections are held in Ireland every five years to elect councillors as public representatives on local authorities.
Local councillors make policy decisions at local level including in areas such as planning, roads, traffic, housing, environmental services, recreation, community development; formal civic functions; a general representational and oversight role; and citizen/community engagement.
There are 31 Local Government Authorities in Ireland, which include County Councils and City Councils. Each county and city council is divided into local electoral areas. Each local electoral area has a specified number of council seats to be filled in the election. In total, there are 166 electoral areas in Ireland and each of them elects a number of councillors. The number of councillors to be elected nationally is 949.
In the 2019 local elections – where turnout was 49.78% – Fianna Fáil won 26.92% of the vote (279 seats), Fine Gael won 25.26% (255 seats), Sinn Féin won 9.48% (81 seats), Labour won 5.73% (57 seats), Green won 5.55% (49 seats), Social Democrats won 2.28% (19 seats), Solidarity / People Before Profit won a combined 1.93% (combined 11 seats), Aontú won 1.48% (three seats), and Independents won 0.5% (three seats).
Who can vote in Ireland’s local council elections?
All those who meet the following criteria are eligible to vote in Local Elections:
- Aged 18 years or over
- Ordinarily resident in Ireland
- On the electoral register (You can check this using CheckTheRegister.ie)
You do not need to be an Irish citizen to vote in the local elections.
The deadline to register for in-person and postal votes has now passed.
Limerick mayoral election
The people of Limerick will vote for Ireland’s first-ever directly elected Mayor on June 7, 2024. This is taking place as a result of a 2019 plebiscite in which the people of Limerick city and county voted in favour of a proposal for a directly elected Mayor.
The directly elected Mayor of Limerick will be unique in Ireland as they will be the first Mayor with executive powers set out in legislation.
15 candidates are vying for the one mayoral seat in the 2024 election. The Mayor will remain in office for five years, which is the same electoral cycle as local councillors.
The Mayor can serve a maximum of two terms of office. These two terms can be consecutive or non-consecutive.
Who can vote in the election for the directly elected Mayor of Limerick?
To vote in the election for the Mayor of Limerick you have to be:
- 18 years old
- Ordinarily resident in the State
- Registered to vote within the Limerick City and County Electoral Areas
Voters can check if they are registered to vote on CheckTheRegister.ie or by contacting Limerick City or County Council.
The deadline for registering to vote has passed, as has the deadline to register for a postal or special vote.
European Parliament elections in Ireland
European Parliament elections take place every five years. In these elections, EU citizens choose the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who will represent their interests in the European Parliament. Together with government representatives from 27 EU Member States, MEPs shape and decide on new laws that influence lives across the European Union. MEPs are elected according to national electoral systems.
A total of 720 MEPs will be elected in June 2024; voters in Ireland will elect 14 MEPs in 2024, one more than in the 2019 elections.
In the 2019 European Parliament elections, Fine Gael won five seats, Fianna Fáil won two seats, Green won two seats, Independents for Change won two seats, and Sinn Féin won one seat.
Ireland is divided into three constituencies for European elections:
- Dublin – elects four MEPS
- South – elects five MEPS (Carlow, Clare, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and Wicklow)
- Midlands-North-West – elects five MEPS (Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, and Westmeath)
Who can vote in European Parliament elections?
You are eligible to vote in the European elections in Ireland if you are:
- 18 years or older
- registered to vote
- an Irish or an EU citizen who is ordinarily resident in Ireland
Irish citizens residing in other EU Countries can vote in their country of residence.
If you are an EU citizen but have not registered to vote at a previous European election in Ireland you must apply for registration and complete a statutory declaration form, EP1 (available from your local authority). The statutory declarations are sent to your home Member State to make sure people are not voting twice.
