Local Elections
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
Local elections in Ireland are held every five years. The next elections will be held in May or June 2024. Everyone aged 18 or more on polling day is entitled to vote. Voters elect Councillors to represent them on their local authority.
There are 31 local authorities in Ireland. Each local authority is either a County, City, or, City and County Council.
Polling day is the same in all parts of the country. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage makes an order setting the polling day. The order also sets the polling period, which must last for at least 12 hours between 07:00am and 10:30pm.
The local authority returning officer conducts the election for each local authority. Each local authority meets the cost of running the election. Further information (in a range of different languages) is available in the information leaflet - How Members of Local Authorities are Elected .
The election results are available at Local Elections 2019 – Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics .
Each county, city and city and county council is divided into local electoral areas. Members of the local authorities are elected in these. Local electoral areas and the number of members to be elected in each are specified in a statutory instrument for each local authority area. These statutory instruments were most recently made in 2018 and 2019.
Maps showing the local electoral areas can be found on the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee website.
Spending limits, first introduced for the 2009 local elections, were revised by the Local Government Reform Act 2014. The limit depends on the population of the local electoral area, as follows -
Local Electoral Area Population and Candidate Spending Limit
Local Electoral Area | Candidate Spending Limit |
Population in excess of 35,000 | 13,000 Euro |
Population between 18,001 and 35,000 | 11,500 Euro |
Population of 18,000 or less | 9,750 Euro |
Candidates nominated by a political party are deemed to automatically allocate 10% of their spending limit to the party’s national agent. For example, a party candidate with a limit of 13,000 euro would be deemed to automatically allocate 1,300 euro for use by the party. Their effective limit would therefore be 11,700 euro. The 10% figure can be varied upwards or downwards by written agreement between the candidate and national agent.
Election spending incurred during a period before the election must be reported to the local authority concerned and must not exceed the specified limit. The date of commencement of the spending period is set out in an order made by the Minister before the election. It must commence between 50 and 60 days before polling day.
The following rules apply for donations:
Certain donations are restricted:
There are specific rules covering corporate donations which exceed 200 euro:
Guidelines on the spending and donation rules that apply at local elections are available from each local authority.
Further information can be found in the relevant legislation, including the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999.