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1985 Irish local elections
Nationwide local authority elections
Nationwide local authority elections
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| election_name | 1985 Irish local elections |
| country | Republic of Ireland |
| type | parliamentary |
| previous_election | 1979 Irish local elections |
| previous_year | 1979 |
| next_year | 1991 and 1994 |
| election_date | 20 June 1985 |
| turnout | 58.98% 4.62pp |
| image1 | |
| leader1 | Charles Haughey |
| leader_since1 | 7 December 1979 |
| party1 | Fianna Fáil |
| seats1 | 441 |
| seat_change1 | 113 |
| popular_vote1 | 648,070 |
| percentage1 | 45.6% |
| swing1 | 6.5% |
| image2 | |
| leader2 | Garret FitzGerald |
| leader_since2 | 1 July 1977 |
| party2 | Fine Gael |
| seats2 | 287 |
| seat_change2 | 5 |
| popular_vote2 | 422,045 |
| percentage2 | 29.7% |
| swing2 | 5.4% |
| image3 | |
| leader3 | Dick Spring |
| leader_since3 | 1 November 1982 |
| party3 | Labour Party (Ireland) |
| seats3 | 60 |
| seat_change3 | 15 |
| popular_vote3 | 109,681 |
| percentage3 | 7.9% |
| swing3 | 4.2% |
| image4 | |
| leader4 | Tomás Mac Giolla |
| leader_since4 | 14 October 1962 |
| party4 | Workers' Party (Ireland) |
| seats4 | 20 |
| seat_change4 | 13 |
| popular_vote4 | 43,006 |
| percentage4 | 3.0% |
| swing4 | 0.3% |
| image5 | |
| leader5 | Gerry Adams |
| leader_since5 | 13 November 1983 |
| party5 | Sinn Féin |
| last_election5 | N/A |
| seats5 | 10 |
| seat_change5 | 1 |
| popular_vote5 | 46,391 |
| percentage5 | 3.3% |
| swing5 | 1.7% |
| image6 | |
| leader6 | Neil Blaney |
| leader_since6 | 1972 |
| party6 | Independent Fianna Fáil |
| seats6 | 6 |
| seat_change6 | 2 |
| popular_vote6 | 11073 |
| percentage6 | 0.8% |
| swing6 | 0.0% |
The 1985 Irish local elections were held in all the local government areas on Thursday, 20 June 1985.
There were two tiers of local government areas. The state was divided into local government areas of administrative counties and county boroughs under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Within administrative counties, there was a second tier in certain areas of boroughs governed by the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 and the 1898 Act, urban districts governed by the 1898 Act, and towns with town commissioners governed by the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854.
The elections had been postponed from June 1984. This allowed for the enactment of reforms under the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985. Each local government area was divided into local electoral areas (LEAs) to be elected on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).
Administrative changes
Under the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985:
- the borough of Galway (which previously had a 12-member borough council) ceased to be part of County Galway and became a county borough with its own 15-member city council.
- County Dublin was divided into three electoral counties: Dublin—Belgard (26 members), Dublin—Fingal (24 members) and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown (28 members). This was an increase from the 36 seats which had been in Dublin County Council. No separate election was to be held for the borough council of the corporation of Dún Laoghaire, with members elected for designated LEAs in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown to also be the members of the borough council.
- Dublin City Council was increased from 45 to 52 seats
Two Electoral Area Boundary Commissions proposed changes which were implemented by order of the minister:
- Increases in memberships of councils: Clare (one extra), Cork (two extra), Donegal (one extra), Kerry (one extra), Kildare (four extra), Limerick (one extra), Sligo (one extra) and Wicklow (three extra);
- Galway County Council was reduced from 31 to 30 members.
Results
County, city and town council seats
| Party | Seats | ± | 1st pref | FPv% | ±% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 441 | 113 | 648,070 | 45.6 | +6.5 | |
| 287 | 5 | 422,045 | 29.7 | -5.4 | |
| 60 | 15 | 109,681 | 7.9 | -4.2 | |
| 20 | 13 | 43,006 | 3.0 | +0.8 | |
| 10 | 1 | 46,391 | 3.3 | +1.7 | |
| 6 | 2 | 11,073 | 0.8 | 0.0 | |
| 3 | 3 | 5,472 | 0.4 | New | |
| 1 | 1 | 1,681 | 0.1 | New | |
| 1 | 0 | 1,506 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |
| 0 | 0 | 7,446 | 0.5 | New | |
| 0 | 0 | 593 | 0.0 | New | |
| 135,603 | 9.6 | -2.1 | |||
| Total | 1,421,494 | 100.0 | — |
;Note: Sinn Féin, Independent Fianna Fáil and the Waterford People's Party were not registered political parties.
Counties and cities
| Authority | Fianna Fáil}}; width: 3px;" | Fine Gael}}; width: 3px;" | Labour Party (Ireland)}}; width: 3px;" | Workers' Party (Ireland)}}; width: 3px;" | Sinn Féin}}; width: 3px;" | Independent politician}}; width: 3px;" | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FF | FG | Lab | WP | SF | Ind/Oth | ||||||||
| Carlow | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 21 | ||||||||
| Cavan | 14 | 10 | 1 | 25 | |||||||||
| Clare | 17 | 8 | 7 | 32 | |||||||||
| Cork City | 13 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 31 | |||||||
| Cork County | 24 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 48 | |||||||
| Donegal | 11 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 29 | ||||||||
| Dublin City | 26 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 52 | ||||||
| Dublin–Belgard | 13 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 26 | |||||||
| Dublin–Fingal | 13 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 24 | ||||||||
| Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown | 13 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 28 | ||||||||
| Galway City | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 15 | |||||||
| Galway County | 17 | 9 | 4 | 30 | |||||||||
| Kerry | 13 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 27 | ||||||||
| Kildare | 10 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 25 | ||||||||
| Kilkenny | 11 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 26 | ||||||||
| Laois | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 25 | ||||||||
| Leitrim | 10 | 8 | 4 | 22 | |||||||||
| Limerick City | 5 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 17 | ||||||||
| Limerick County | 18 | 10 | 28 | ||||||||||
| Longford | 10 | 9 | 2 | 21 | |||||||||
| Louth | 12 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 26 | |||||||
| Mayo | 15 | 14 | 2 | 31 | |||||||||
| Meath | 17 | 10 | 2 | 29 | |||||||||
| Monaghan | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 20 | ||||||||
| North Tipperary | 12 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 21 | ||||||||
| Offaly | 12 | 6 | 3 | 21 | |||||||||
| Roscommon | 13 | 8 | 5 | 26 | |||||||||
| Sligo | 11 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 25 | ||||||||
| South Tipperary | 14 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 26 | ||||||||
| Waterford City | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 | |||||||
| Waterford County | 11 | 10 | 2 | 23 | |||||||||
| Westmeath | 13 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 23 | ||||||||
| Wexford | 11 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 21 | ||||||||
| Wicklow | 13 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 24 | |||||||
| Totals | 437 | 283 | 58 | 20 | 4 | 81 | 783 |
| Party | Seats | +/- |
|---|---|---|
| Others | ||
| Total |
References
Sources
- {{cite web |access-date=12 September 2008
Citations
References
- (12 January 1984). "Local Elections (Specification of Local Election Year) Order 1984".
- (24 April 1985}}; {{Cite ISB). "County Electoral Areas (Amendment) Order 1985".
- (7 May 1985). "Galway County Council (Amendment) Order 1985".
- (1 July 1991). "County by county first preference vote". The Irish Times.
- "1985 Local Election".
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