The 2004 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Friday, 11 June 2004, on the same day as the European elections and referendum on the amending the constitutional provisions on citizenship. Polling was delayed until 19 June 2004 in County Roscommon, due to the sudden death of Councillor Gerry Donnelly.
Turnout was the highest for 20 years at around 60%, helped by the extra publicity of the referendum. The result was a setback for Fianna Fáil, which saw its share of the vote drop by 7 percentage points from its 1999 result to 32%, losing 20% of its council seats. The party lost its majority on Clare County Council for the first time in 70 years, and fell behind Fine Gael in Galway, Limerick and Waterford city councils. Labour's share of the vote remained static at 11% while Fine Gael dropped 1%. However, both parties gained seats with the Labour Party becoming the largest party on Dublin City Council. Major gains were made by Sinn Féin which managed to double the number of seats it held, mainly at the expense of Fianna Fáil.
These were the first elections since the Local Government Act 2001 modernised council structures and abolished the dual mandate. Many new councillors were elected for the first time, including 33 of the 52 of the councillors on Dublin City Council, which the city manager described as "unprecedented in the history of local government". Many of the seats vacated by TDs and senators were won by family members.
Results Voters received different-coloured ballot papers for the European election, city/county council election, and referendum, all of which went into the same ballot box and were separated by colour once the boxes arrived at the count centre for the city/county. According to the different franchises in Irish law, all residents were eligible to vote in the local elections, all EU citizens were eligible to vote in the European elections, and the referendum was confined to Irish citizens. Voters in towns with town councils received an additional ballot for that election, cast in a separate ballot box and counted locally within the town.
County, city and town council seats
Party Seats ± 542129 46832 18818 12563 3219 32 Others2403 Total1627
County and City Councils
Party Seats ± ±% 30280578,13931.87.1 29316503,08827.60.5 10118207,51811.40.6 5433146,3918.04.5 19669,6503.80.9 181071,0523.91.4 4213,4940.70.3 229,3560.5 214,1700.20.3 11,6180.1 06,1250.3+0.2 012,0360.1— 02810.00.1 8711207,20711.40.2 Total8831,820,125100
Authority TotalDetailsCarlow87411000000 21DetailsCavan1111000300000 25DetailsClare1310101000007 32DetailsCork City118611200002 31DetailsCork County1624510200002 48DetailsDonegal148000420001 29DetailsDublin City121015111000003 52DetailsDún Laoghaire–Rathdown79614000001 28DetailsFingal45613100004 24DetailsGalway City23431100001 15DetailsGalway County1010130100005 30DetailsKerry118200200013 27DetailsKildare107401000003 25DetailsKilkenny811501000001 26DetailsLaois119110100002 25DetailsLeitrim108000200002 22DetailsLimerick City25400000006 17DetailsLimerick County1212130000000 28DetailsLongford910000000002 21DetailsLouth97100500004 26DetailsMayo1215100100002 31DetailsMeath129001200005 25DetailsMonaghan57000700001 20DetailsOffaly86020000005 21DetailsRoscommon910000100006 26DetailsSligo1010300100001 25DetailsSouth Dublin63722300003 26DetailsNorth Tipperary105200000004 21DetailsSouth Tipperary10820000030326DetailsWaterford City14300202003 15DetailsWaterford County71140010000023DetailsWestmeath98600000000 23DetailsWexford67100300004 21DetailsWicklow67601000004 24Details
Borough and town councils Party Seats ± 24049 17516 87 7130 149 136 Others14412 Total744
Borough councils
Authority OtherClonmel32115Drogheda32223Kilkenny4431Sligo4233Wexford22512Total16121461110
Town councils Town TotalArdee 2 3 1 1 1 1 9Arklow 3 2 2 2 9Athlone 4 2 1 1 1 9Athy 2 3 3 1 9Balbriggan 2 1 2 1 1 2 9Ballina 4 2 1 1 1 9Ballinasloe 3 1 1 4 9Ballybay 3 3 2 1 9Ballyshannon 3 4 1 1 9Bandon 3 4 1 1 9Bantry 4 3 1 1 9Belturbet 4 3 2 9Birr 2 3 1 1 2 9Boyle 3 3 1 2 9Bray 3 1 4 1 3 12Buncrana 3 2 2 2 9Bundoran 5 2 1 1 9Carlow 3 3 2 1 9Carrickmacross 3 2 3 1 9Carrick-on-Suir 3 1 2 1 2 9Cashel 2 1 1 5 9Castlebar 3 3 1 1 1 9Castleblayney 3 1 3 2 9Cavan 4 3 1 1 9Clonakilty 2 2 2 3 9Clones 3 1 4 1 9Cobh 1 2 3 1 2 9Cootehill 3 3 2 1 9Dundalk 3 2 3 1 3 12Dungarvan 2 2 3 1 1 9Edenderry 5 2 1 1 9Ennis 3 2 1 3 9Enniscorthy 3 2 1 3 9Fermoy 1 1 1 1 5 9Gorey 4 3 1 1 9Granard 3 2 1 3 9Greystones 3 3 1 2 9Kells 4 1 2 1 1 9Kilkee 5 2 2 9Killarney 3 1 1 4 9Kilrush 4 1 4 9Kinsale 2 4 1 1 1 9Leixlip 2 2 2 1 2 9Letterkenny 4 1 1 1 2 9Lismore 4 3 1 1 9Listowel 4 3 1 1 9Longford 2 3 1 1 2 9Loughrea 3 1 1 4 9Macroom 2 4 2 1 9Mallow 2 2 3 1 1 9Midleton 3 2 1 3 9Monaghan 3 2 4 9Mountmellick 6 2 1 9Muine Bheag 5 2 2 9Mullingar 2 2 4 1 9Naas 3 1 1 1 1 2 9Navan 4 2 2 1 9Nenagh 3 1 2 1 2 9Newbridge 3 2 1 1 2 9New Ross 4 2 2 1 9Passage West 3 3 1 1 1 9Portlaoise 3 3 1 2 9Shannon 2 2 2 3 9Skibbereen 2 3 2 1 1 9Templemore 4 3 2 9Thurles 1 1 2 1 4 9Tipperary 2 2 1 4 9Tralee 4 1 3 2 2 12Tramore 3 3 1 2 9Trim 2 2 1 1 3 9Tuam 1 3 1 4 9Tullamore 3 2 2 2 9Westport 3 3 1 2 9Wicklow 2 2 2 1 2 9Youghal 3 2 2 1 1 9
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