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2009 Irish local elections

2009 Irish local elections

← 2004 5 June 2009 2014 →
883 County and City Council seats; 744 Borough and Town Council seats
Turnout	57.7%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Enda Kenny Brian Cowen Eamon Gilmore Party Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Labour Leader since 6 June 2002 7 May 2008 6 September 2007 Percentage 32.2% 25.4% 14.7% Largest Party 24 3 4 Councillors 556 (340 C&C, 216 B&T) 407 (218 C&C, 189 B&T) 231 (132 C&C, 99 B&T) Councillors +/- 88 135 43   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gerry Adams John Gormley Séamus Healy Party Sinn Féin Green Workers and Unemployed Leader since 13 November 1983 17 July 2007 1997 Percentage 7.4% 2.3% 0.2% Largest Party 1 N/A N/A Councillors 127 (54 C&C, 73 B&T) 18 (3 C&C, 15 B&T) 7 (2 C&C, 5 B&T) Councillors +/- 2 14 5

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The 2009 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Friday, 5 June 2009, on the same day as the European Parliament election and two by-elections (Dublin South and Dublin Central).^[1]

The election results were significant for a number of reasons:

• Fine Gael gained 88 seats and became the largest party at local level for the first time ever.
• Fianna Fáil lost 135 seats and became the second-largest party nationally, and the third-largest in Dublin.
• The Labour Party increased its seat total by 43 seats, and became the largest party on Dublin City Council. It also held the most seats on the four Dublin local authorities.
• Sinn Féin support remained at almost the same level, gaining 2 seats.
• The Green Party lost 14 seats and had 3 county councillors.
• The People Before Profit Alliance won 5 seats in its first local elections.
• The Socialist Party won 6 seats, a gain of 2 seats.

The total number of the Irish electorate eligible to vote in the election was 3,259,253. A total of 1,880,589 first preference votes were cast, representing a turnout of 57.7%.

The Progressive Democrats and Independent Fianna Fáil did not compete in the elections. As they competed in the previous elections, totals for vote and seat changes may not total zero. People Before Profit Alliance figures are compared to Socialist Workers Party figures from the previous local elections.

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Fine Gael	340	+47	605,333	32.2	+4.6
	Fianna Fáil	218	–84	477,342	25.4	–6.4
	Labour	132	+31	276,627	14.7	+3.3
	Sinn Féin	54		138,405	7.4	–0.6
	People Before Profit	5	+5	15,879	0.8	+0.5
	Socialist Party	4		16,052	0.9	+0.2
	Green	3	–15	44,152	2.3	–1.6
	Workers' Party	2		4,771	0.3	+0.1
	Workers and Unemployed	2		3,590	0.2
	SKIA	1		2,536	0.1	—
	Seniors Solidarity	0		1,319	0.1	New
	Christian Solidarity	0		467	0.0	—
	Independent	122	+37	294,094	15.6	+4.5
Total		883	—	1,880,589	—	—

Following the June 2009 local elections Fine Gael were the largest political party on 24 councils, the Labour Party on 4 councils, Fianna Fáil on 3 councils, Independents on 2 councils and Sinn Féin on 1 council.

Party		Seats	±
	Fine Gael	216	44
	Fianna Fáil	189	53
	Labour	99	12
	Sinn Féin	73	2
	Green	15	1
	Workers and Unemployed	5
	SKIA	1
	Letterkenny Residents Party	1	1
	Independent	144	7

The five councils with the status of borough councils are marked as BC. All others are town councils.

• Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (2010). Local Elections 2009: Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics (PDF). Dublin: Stationery Office. ISBN 9781406425109.
  • Volume 1: City and County Councils
  • Volume 2: Borough and Town Councils

• 2009 Local elections result – ElectionsIreland.org