Local Elections

Local elections in Ireland are held every five years. 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.

The most recent local elections took place on 7th June 2024. The official results of those elections will be available online in early 2025.

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.

Expenditure

Spending limits were first introduced for the local elections in 2009 under the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999 and were revised for the 2024 local elections to reflect changes in the consumer price index.

The limit depends on the population of the local electoral area, as follows -

Local Electoral Area Population and Candidate Spending Limit

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 15,350 euro would be deemed to automatically allocate 1,535 euro for use by the party. Their effective limit would therefore be 13,815 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.

Donations

The following rules apply for donations:

• The maximum amount that can be accepted in the same calendar year by a member of a local authority or by a local election candidate from the same source is 1,000 euro.
• Details of donations which exceed 600 euro must be disclosed in a statement made to the local authority.
• A candidate or member of a local authority who receives a monetary donation that exceeds 100 euro must open and maintain a political donations account in a financial institution.

Certain donations are restricted:

• It is prohibited to accept a donation from an anonymous source which exceeds 100 euro.
• Donations in cash which exceed 200 euro are also prohibited.

There are specific rules covering corporate donations which exceed 200 euro:

• The donor must be registered with the Standards in Public Office Commission; and
• The donor must provide evidence that the donation was approved by the corporate body.

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.