2024 Irish local elections

• 5 April: Ministerial order fixing the election date made by Darragh O'Brien, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage^[1]
• 8 May: Date on which posters may be erected
• 7 June: Polling day (7 a.m.–10 p.m.)

On 8 May, Fingal councillor Tania Doyle and her husband, while erecting election posters, were assaulted by a man shouting anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric while an accomplice filmed it. Her husband was left bleeding and knocked to the ground by the assault which also saw Doyle herself punched in the head after she attempted to shield her husband. The assault lasted 15 minutes and only ended when the accomplice pulled the assaulter away from kicking Doyle's husband while on the ground. Doyle stated she feared for their lives and going forward would not be canvassing for the remainder of the election.^[8] The gardaí have stated that they are investigating the matter.^[8]

Concurrently on 8 May, Dublin City Councillor Janet Horner of the Green Party and a colleague claim she was assaulted by a man who said "Dublin 1 is for the far-right". Horner was erecting election posters when she was reportedly confronted by a man who threatened to kill her. She said the man confiscated her posters and struck her when she resisted. Horner contacted the gardaí afterwards and resolved to continue to canvass despite the event.^[9]

In another incident on 8 May, two women placing posters up in the Smithfield area of Dublin for Social Democrats candidate Ellen O'Doherty were threatened with a knife by a man demanding they remove the posters, who was then joined by another man. The women managed to escape when a local woman came from a nearby house and begged the men to stop. The campaigners reported the incident to the gardaí and said they would not canvass in future nor return to the area.^[10][11]

On 15 May Fianna Fáil candidate Suzzie O'Deniyi was canvassing with members of her team in the Caherdavin area of Limerick when a man is alleged to have begun screaming racist and sexist slurs about O'Deniyi at her supporters. The man recorded himself doing so on his phone.^[12] A man, Aaron Daly of Caherdavin, was arrested by Gardaí and charged with two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, contrary to section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, before being released on bail. Daly was ordered to have no contact of any kind with O'Deniyi and that he is to report to the gardaí regularly until his trial, which is scheduled for 6 September 2024.^[13]

On 17 May, Fine Gael candidate in Artane–Whitehall Linkwinstar Mattathil Mathew and his campaign team were forced to take down posters after they were racially abused and intimidated by a group of men. The perpetrators filmed the incident and posted it to social media.^[14]

On 16 May Tánaiste Micheál Martin denounced the targeting of candidates, noting that the large majority of those targeted were from minority backgrounds. Martin stated the right to run in elections was a pillar of liberal democracy, regardless of background.^[15]

The results were seen as a victory for governing coalition parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and a disappointment for Sinn Féin, which had significantly underperformed its polling.^[16][17] Despite an increased number of far-right candidates, only a handful were elected.^[18] The new right-wing Independent Ireland party notably performed well, as did independent candidates.^[19]

Party		Candidates	Seats[20]	± vs 2019	1st pref.	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	366	248	31		22.9	4.00
	Fine Gael	339	245	10		23.0	2.26
	Sinn Féin	335	102	21		11.8	2.32
	Labour	109	56	1	97,575	5.3	0.4
	Social Democrats	77	35	13	63,273	3.4	1.1
	Green	129	23	26	66,684	3.6	2.1
	Independent Ireland	61	23	23[a]	51,562	2.8	New
	People Before Profit[b]	45	10	3	22,231
	Aontú	66	8	5	39,461	2.1	0.7
	Wexford Ind. Alliance[c]	12	5	5	10,223	0.6	New
	100% Redress	6	4	4	7,400	0.4	New
	Solidarity[b]	8	3	1	4,952
	Inds. 4 Change	2	1	2	3,537	0.2	0.3
	Irish Freedom	28	1	1	9,500	0.5	New
	National Party	15	1	1	4,983	0.3	New
	Right to Change	2	1	1	2,639	0.1	New
	Workers and Unemployed	2	1		1,887	0.1
	Kerry Ind.	1	1		1,574	0.1
	Independent Left	1	1		1,365	0.1
	Republican Sinn Féin[c]	1	1		974	0.1
	The Irish People	57	0	New	13,134	0.7	New
	Ireland First	8	0	New	3,165	0.2	New
	Workers' Party	3	0	1	1,700	0.1
	Rabharta[d]	4	0	New	1,246	0.1	New
	Glór	1	0	New	559
	Party for Animal Welfare	5	0	New	457		New
	Farmers' Alliance	2	0	New	355		New
	Independent	488	178	7
Total		2,172	949	—		—	—

Despite performing better than in the last election, Sinn Féin's results where seen as a "disappointment", with the election being reported as a victory for Ireland's governing coalition.^[17] Fine Gael credited the results to the resignation of Leo Varadkar, which injected "fresh energy" in the coalition.^[17] The Guardian, who stated that "the local elections were a calamity for Sinn Féin", also reported that some figures within the coalition called on taoiseach Simon Harris to call for a snap election to "seize the momentum."^[17] Harris, Micheál Martin, and Eamon Ryan, rejected calls for an early election.^[17]

Financial Times reported that Sinn Féin did particularly poor because their core demographic, the working-class and youth, increasingly hardened on immigration, and instead voted for independent and far-right parties.^[24] These parties in turn saw a surge in public support, with the Irish Freedom party seeing their first ever elected official.^[17]

• Next Irish general election

• 2024 Local Elections ElectionsIreland.org
• Adrian Kavanagh: Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses