1979 Irish local elections

The 1979 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on 7 June 1979, on the same day as the first direct elections to the European Parliament.

1974 Irish local elections

7 June 1979

Labour Leader Jack Lynch Garret FitzGerald Frank Cluskey Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Leader since 9 November 1966 1977 1977 Seats won 328 292 75 Seat change 24 12 4 Popular vote 529,909 469,074 160,684 Percentage 39.0% 34.6% 11.8% Swing 0.8% 0.8% 0.9%   IFF Leader Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Tomás Mac Giolla Neil Blaney Party Sinn Féin (Provisional) Sinn Féin - The Workers' Party Independent Fianna Fáil Leader since October 1970 14 October 1962 1972 Seats won 11 7 4 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 21,273 31,238 10,245 Percentage 1.6% 2.3% 0.8% Swing 0.2% 1.0% 0.2%

Results

Total seats

Party		Seats	±	First pref. votes	% FPV[1]	±%
	Fianna Fáil	328	24	529,909	39.0	-0.8
	Fine Gael	292	12	469,074	34.6	+0.9
	Labour	75	4	160,684	11.8	-0.9
	Sinn Féin (Provisional)	11	4	21,273	1.6	-0.2
	Sinn Féin - The Workers' Party	7	1	31,238	2.3	+1.0
	Independent Fianna Fáil	4		10,245	0.8	+0.2
	Protestant Association	2		1,912	0.1	-0.1
	Independent Socialist Party	1	1	675	0.0	New
	Independent	49	25	121,894	9.0	-0.5
Total				1,421,494	100	—

County councils

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		SF (P)		SFWP		Other	Total
Carlow	8		9		3						1		21
Cavan	12		11				1				1		25
Clare	17		9		2		1				2		31
Cork County	23		18		3				1		2		47
Donegal	10		6		5		1		1		5		23
Dublin	12		14		9						1		36
Galway County	14		11		1		2				2		30
Kerry	14		7		2		1				2		26
Kildare	9		8		4								21
Kilkenny	11		10		4				1				26
Laois	11		12		2								25
Leitrim	11		9				1						21
Limerick County	15		11								1		27
Longford	8		9				2				2		21
Louth	10		8		2		1		1		4		26
Mayo	15		16										31
Meath	13		9		5						2		29
Monaghan	9		8								3 ^A		20
Offaly	10		9		1						1		21
Roscommon	12		12				1				1		26
Sligo	10		11		1						2		24
Tipperary North	8		8		4						1		21
Tipperary South	11		8		4						3		26
Waterford County	9		11		1								21
Westmeath	10		9		3						1		23
Wexford	10		7		2						2		21
Wicklow	7		8		4				1		1		21

^ Two of the three non-party Monaghan councillors were nominated by the Protestant Association.

Source:[2]

Large corporations

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		SF (P)		SFWP		Other	Total
Cork Corporation	13		12		4				1		1		31
Dublin Corporation	12		15		11				1		6 ^B		45
Limerick Corporation	6		5		4						2		17
Waterford Corporation	5		4		2				2		2		15

^ Five of the six non-party members of Dublin Corporation were elected as Community candidates, including Tony Gregory, Seán Dublin Bay Loftus and Carmencita Hederman.

Small corporations

Authority		FF		FG		Lab		PSF		SFWP		Other	Total
Clonmel Corporation	4		4		3						1		12
Drogheda Corporation	3		2		3						4		12
Corporation of Dún Laoghaire	3		8		4								15
Kilkenny Corporation	4		3		3						2		12
Sligo Corporation	3		4		2						3		12
Wexford Corporation	3		1		2		1				5		12

References

Sources

• "1979 Local Elections". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 February 2008.
• Department of the Environment (1980). Local elections, 1979 : election results and transfer of votes in respect of each county, and county borough council : and election statistics relating to all local authorities (PDF). Official publications. Prl.9322. Dublin: Stationery Office. Retrieved 3 March 2016.

Citations

1. "1974 Local Election". Retrieved 6 October 2020.
2. "Newly-elected members of the county councils". The Irish Times. 12 June 1979. Retrieved 21 June 2011.

See also

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