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1985 Irish local elections

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1985 Irish local elections

← 1979 20 June 1985 1991 and 1994 →
Turnout58.98% Decrease4.62pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Charles Haughey, 1990.jpg
Garret FitzGerald 1975 (cropped).jpg
Dick Spring 1995 (headshot).jpg
Leader Charles Haughey Garret FitzGerald Dick Spring
Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour
Leader since 7 December 1979 1 July 1977 1 November 1982
Seats won 441 287 60
Seat change Increase113 Decrease5 Decrease 15
Popular vote 648,070 422,045 109,681
Percentage 45.6% 29.7% 7.9%
Swing Increase6.5% Decrease5.4% Decrease4.2%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Tomás Mac Giolla (cropped).jpg
Gerry Adams, 1997.jpg
IFF
Leader Tomás Mac Giolla Gerry Adams Neil Blaney
Party Workers' Party Sinn Féin Independent Fianna Fáil
Leader since 14 October 1962 13 November 1983 1972
Last election N/A
Seats won 20 10 6
Seat change Increase 13 Increase 10 Increase 2
Popular vote 43,006 46,391 11073
Percentage 3.0% 3.3% 0.8%
Swing Increase 0.3% Increase 1.7% Steady 0.0%

  Seventh party
 
DSP
Leader Jim Kemmy
Party Democratic Socialist Party
Leader since 1972
Seats won 3
Seat change Increase 3
Popular vote 5,472
Percentage 0.4%
Swing Increase 0.4%

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.[1] This allowed the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985 to be enacted beforehand. 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

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Under the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985:[2]

Two Electoral Area Boundary Commissions proposed changes which were implemented by order of the minister:[3]

  • 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.[4]

Results

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County, city and town council seats

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Party Seats ± 1st pref FPv%[5][6] ±%
Fianna Fáil 441 Increase 113 648,070 45.6 +6.5
Fine Gael 287 Decrease 5 422,045 29.7 -5.4
Labour 60 Decrease 15 109,681 7.9 -4.2
Workers' Party 20 Increase13 43,006 3.0 +0.8
Sinn Féin 10 Increase 10 46,391 3.3 +1.7
Independent Fianna Fáil 6 Increase 2 11,073 0.8 0.0
Democratic Socialist 3 Increase 3 5,472 0.4 New
Waterford People's Party 1 Increase 1 1,681 0.1 New
Donegal Progressive Party 1 Steady 0 1,506 0.1 0.0
Green 0 Steady 0 7,446 0.5 New
Communist 0 Steady 0 593 0.0 New
Independent 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

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Authority FF FG Lab WP SF Ind/Oth Total
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

References

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Sources

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  • "1985 Local Elections". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
  • Local elections, 1985 : 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. Vol. Pl.3578. Dublin: Stationery Office. 1986. Retrieved 2 March 2016.

Citations

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  1. ^ Local Elections (Specification of Local Election Year) Order 1984 (S.I. No. 6 of 1984). Signed on 12 January 1984. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
  2. ^ DofE 1986, p. vi–viii.
  3. ^ County Electoral Areas (Amendment) Order 1985 (S.I. No. 109 of 1985). Signed on 24 April 1985. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.; County Electoral Areas (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 1985 (S.I. No. 110 of 1985). Signed on 24 April 1985. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
  4. ^ Galway County Council (Amendment) Order 1985 (S.I. No. 127 of 1985). Signed on 7 May 1985. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
  5. ^ "County by county first preference vote". The Irish Times. 1 July 1991. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2011. The first two digits of the Fine Gael total vote seem to be transposed in error, based on the other figures and percentages.
  6. ^ "1985 Local Election". irelandelection.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.

See also

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