![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The 2019 local elections were run in conjunction with European Parliament elections, a constitutional referendum to ease restrictions on divorce, and local plebiscites in Cork city, Limerick and Waterford on the introduction of directly elected mayors. Turnout was 50.2%, the joint lowest in the history of the State. The elections were contested on a mixture of local and national issues and saw Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael consolidate their positions as the two dominant parties in Irish local government, winning a combined total of 534 seats out of 949. The Green Party enjoyed a rise in local authority council membership from 12 to 49 seats while Sinn Féin suffered a 78-seat loss. ‘New Irish’ candidates and women fared quite well by past standards. Campaigning for the mayoral plebiscites was lacklustre and, amidst much confusion and a lack of information, the proposal was narrowly defeated in Cork city and Waterford. It passed in Limerick, where the expectation is that a mayoral election will take place in 2021.
KEYWORDS:
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Aodh Quinlivan is a lecturer in the Department of Government and Politics at University College Cork. He specialises in local government and public sector management. He is the Director of UCC's Centre for Local and Regional Governance (CLRG).