Photo: N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.015 candidates stood for 5 seats in Skibbereen-West Cork, one of the most contested ballots at the 2024 local elections
Cork County Council is the one council for Leap; Ireland has no town or county councils between it and the government. The Skibbereen-West Cork local electoral area elected 5 councillors in June 2024: Fianna Fáil 2, Fine Gael 1, Independent Ireland 1 and Social Democrats 1. No party holds a majority on Cork County; Fianna Fáil has the most seats, 19 of 55, short of the 28 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Cork South-West has 3 members: Fianna Fáil 1, Social Democrats 1 and Independent Ireland 1.
Leap’s council and votes, in 4 figures
A crowded ballot
15 candidates stood for 5 seats in Skibbereen-West Cork in June 2024, the 8th-most contested ballot of 166 by candidates per seat. Local elections ↓
High turnout
47,509 of Cork South-West’s 74,364 registered voters turned out in November 2024, 64%: the 7th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 60%). Dáil Éireann ↓
High turnout
15,299 of Skibbereen-West Cork’s 27,132 registered voters turned out in June 2024, 56%: the 37th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49%). How Leap voted ↓
No majority on Cork County
Fianna Fáil won the most seats on Cork County Council in June 2024, 19 of 55, short of the 28 a majority needs; it ran 23 candidates. No party holds a majority on any of the 31 councils, so each council’s business is carried by votes across parties. Who’s in charge ↓
Written from the data on this page: the 2024 count sheets of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Oireachtas members list.
No party holds a majority on Cork County Council
Seats on Cork County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Fianna Fáil1923 stood
- Fine Gael1824 stood
- Independent822 stood
- Independent Ireland48 stood
- Social Democrats37 stood
- Labour Party25 stood
- Sinn Féin110 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 28 of the 55 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Fianna Fáil is largest with 19. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fine Gael is second with 18 seats. The councillors elect a cathaoirleach each June to chair the council for a year; no open national list names them.
The 31 councils of Ireland
Seats by party as elected, largest party named; this council first.
Local and general election results 2024: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY-SA 4.0); areas matched to towns by TownRatings from Tailte Éireann boundaries and CSO Census 2022 Small Areas (CC BY 4.0).
One council, and the government for the rest
Leap has no town or county council of its own: Ireland has 31 councils, each the only council for its area.
Housing and homelessness, planning, local and regional roads, parks and libraries, the fire service, bins enforcement and street cleaning, the register of electors, and the Local Property Tax rate it may vary.
corkcoco.ie ↗Schools (Department of Education), health (the HSE), national roads (TII), policing (An Garda Síochána) and the Local Property Tax itself (Revenue).
gov.ie ↗Uisce Éireann runs water and sewers; private operators collect most bins under the council’s rules.
Who to ask
Green: the council. Gold: a government department or one of its agencies. Grey: another public body.
From the council to the Dáil
Every elected tier that speaks for Leap, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Skibbereen-West Cork local electoral areaSkibbereen-West Cork · 5 membersNoel O'DonovanJoe CarrollDeirdre KellyDaniel SextonIsobel Towse
- 2Cork County Council55 councillors from 10 local electoral areasFianna Fáil 19 · Fine Gael 18 · Independent 8 · Independent Ireland 4 · Social Democrats 3 · Labour Party 2 · Sinn Féin 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannCork South-West · 3 members
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. TDs: Houses of the Oireachtas Open Data (Oireachtas PSI Licence, CC BY 4.0).
5 councillors represent Skibbereen-West Cork
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Noel O'Donovan
- Joe Carroll
- Deirdre Kelly
- Daniel Sexton
- Isobel Towse
Also stood (10): Brendan McCarthy (Fine Gael), Pádraig O'Reilly (Fianna Fáil), Declan Hurley (Independent), Humphrey Deegan (Independent), Barry O'Mahony (Independent), Karen Coakley (Independent), Dónnchadh Ó Seaghda (Sinn Féin), Evie Nevin (Labour Party), Rory Jackson (Green Party), Lorraine Deane (Aontú).
Leap’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noel O'Donovan | Fine Gael | Skibbereen-West Cork | 2,445 | Elected at count 4, on the quota | New |
| Joe Carroll | Fianna Fáil | Skibbereen-West Cork | 1,783 | Elected at count 9, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Deirdre Kelly | Fianna Fáil | Skibbereen-West Cork | 1,344 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Daniel Sexton | Independent Ireland | Skibbereen-West Cork | 1,277 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | New |
| Isobel Towse | Social Democrats | Skibbereen-West Cork | 1,249 | Elected at count 10, on the quota | New |
2 of the 5 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 3 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Cork County Council’s 10 local electoral areas
Every area of Cork County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skibbereen-West Cork | 5 | 15 | 27,132 | 56.4% | 2,531 |
| Bandon-Kinsale | 6 | 13 | 31,002 | 54% | 2,379 |
| Bantry-West Cork | 4 | 11 | 21,485 | 57.7% | 2,460 |
| Carrigaline | 6 | 10 | 30,679 | 47.3% | 2,057 |
| Cobh | 6 | 12 | 28,695 | 45.4% | 1,846 |
| Fermoy | 6 | 15 | 31,544 | 52.8% | 2,358 |
| Kanturk | 4 | 10 | 21,479 | 53.6% | 2,284 |
| Macroom | 6 | 10 | 32,318 | 55.5% | 2,542 |
| Mallow | 5 | 10 | 23,585 | 50.3% | 1,958 |
| Midleton | 7 | 16 | 36,438 | 44.9% | 2,026 |
Each of the local electoral areas elects 3 to 7 councillors by single transferable vote: voters number the candidates in order, a candidate who reaches the quota is elected, and spare votes and those of the lowest candidate pass to the next preference. A councillor who leaves is replaced by co-option, usually from the same party, so the names can change without an election.
Councillors: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Of the 55 councillors on Cork County Council, women hold 16
Everyone elected to Cork County Council across its 10 local electoral areas in June 2024, by party: how many are women and how many sat on the council before.
| Party | Seats | Women | Re-elected | First preferences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fianna Fáil | 19 | 7 | 15 | 27.5% |
| Fine Gael | 18 | 6 | 14 | 29% |
| Independent | 8 | 1 | 5 | 16.4% |
| Independent Ireland | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6.8% |
| Social Democrats | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4.7% |
| Labour Party | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3.8% |
| Sinn Féin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5% |
16 of the 55 councillors are women, 29%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 38 sat on the council before the election and 17 are new to it.
Every member of Cork County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Coleman | Independent | Bandon-Kinsale | Re-elected |
| John Collins | Independent Ireland | Bandon-Kinsale | New |
| John Michael Foley | Fine Gael | Bandon-Kinsale | New |
| Ann Bambury | Social Democrats | Bandon-Kinsale | New |
| Gillian Coughlan | Fianna Fáil | Bandon-Kinsale | Re-elected |
| Marie O'Sullivan | Fine Gael | Bandon-Kinsale | Re-elected |
| Danny Collins | Independent Ireland | Bantry-West Cork | Re-elected |
| Finbarr Harrington | Independent | Bantry-West Cork | New |
| Caroline Cronin | Fine Gael | Bantry-West Cork | Re-elected |
| Patrick Gerard Murphy | Fianna Fáil | Bantry-West Cork | Re-elected |
| Seamus McGrath | Fianna Fáil | Carrigaline | Re-elected |
| Ben Dalton-O'Sullivan | Independent | Carrigaline | Re-elected |
| Jack White | Fine Gael | Carrigaline | Re-elected |
| Eoghan Fahy | Sinn Féin | Carrigaline | New |
| Úna McCarthy | Fine Gael | Carrigaline | Re-elected |
| Audrey Buckley | Fianna Fáil | Carrigaline | Re-elected |
| Sheila O'Callaghan | Fianna Fáil | Cobh | Re-elected |
| Anthony Barry | Fine Gael | Cobh | Re-elected |
| Cathal Rasmussen | Labour Party | Cobh | Re-elected |
| Sinéad Sheppard | Fine Gael | Cobh | Re-elected |
| Ger Curley | Independent Ireland | Cobh | New |
| Dominic Finn | Fianna Fáil | Cobh | New |
| William O'Leary | Independent | Fermoy | Re-elected |
| Noel McCarthy | Fine Gael | Fermoy | Re-elected |
| Frank O'Flynn | Fianna Fáil | Fermoy | Re-elected |
| Deirdre O'Brien | Fianna Fáil | Fermoy | Re-elected |
| Neilus Cotter | Fianna Fáil | Fermoy | New |
| Peter O'Donoghue | Independent | Fermoy | New |
| Bernard Moynihan | Fianna Fáil | Kanturk | Re-elected |
| John Paul O’Shea | Fine Gael | Kanturk | Re-elected |
| Trish Murphy | Fine Gael | Kanturk | New |
| Ian Doyle | Fianna Fáil | Kanturk | Re-elected |
| Gobnait Moynihan | Fianna Fáil | Macroom | Re-elected |
| Michael Creed | Fine Gael | Macroom | Re-elected |
| Michael Looney | Fianna Fáil | Macroom | Re-elected |
| Eileen Lynch | Fine Gael | Macroom | Re-elected |
| Ted Lucey | Fine Gael | Macroom | Re-elected |
| Martin Coughlan | Independent | Macroom | Re-elected |
| Tony O'Shea | Fine Gael | Mallow | Re-elected |
| Liam Madden | Fine Gael | Mallow | Re-elected |
| Eoghan Kenny | Labour Party | Mallow | Re-elected |
| Gearóid Murphy | Fianna Fáil | Mallow | Re-elected |
| Pat Hayes | Fianna Fáil | Mallow | Re-elected |
| Mary Linehan-Foley | Independent | Midleton | Re-elected |
| Michael Hegarty | Fine Gael | Midleton | Re-elected |
| Patrick Mulcahy | Fianna Fáil | Midleton | New |
| Liam Quaide | Social Democrats | Midleton | Re-elected |
| Rory Cocking | Fine Gael | Midleton | New |
| Ann-Marie Ahern | Fianna Fáil | Midleton | New |
| John Buckley | Independent | Midleton | New |
| Noel O'Donovan | Fine Gael | Skibbereen-West Cork | New |
| Joe Carroll | Fianna Fáil | Skibbereen-West Cork | Re-elected |
| Deirdre Kelly | Fianna Fáil | Skibbereen-West Cork | Re-elected |
| Daniel Sexton | Independent Ireland | Skibbereen-West Cork | New |
| Isobel Towse | Social Democrats | Skibbereen-West Cork | New |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Skibbereen-West Cork, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 2,531. Elected candidates are in bold.
Each party’s share of first preferences in Skibbereen-West Cork
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
15,299 of 27,132 registered voters turned out, 56.4%: the 37th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). The quota was 2,531: 15,184 valid votes for 5 seats, counted over 10 rounds. No candidate reached the quota on first preferences: transfers filled every seat. Isobel Towse (Social Democrats) was 6th on first preferences and elected on transfers, ahead of Brendan McCarthy (Fine Gael), 3rd on first preferences. Deirdre Kelly (Fianna Fáil) took the last seat with 2,092 votes at the final count, 81 more than Pádraig O'Reilly (Fianna Fáil), on 2,011.
Every candidate, count by count (10 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Sexton | Independent Ireland | 1,277 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 2,238 |
| Deirdre Kelly | Fianna Fáil | 1,344 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 2,092 |
| Isobel Towse | Social Democrats | 1,249 | Elected at count 10, on the quota | 2,566 |
| Joe Carroll | Fianna Fáil | 1,783 | Elected at count 9, on the quota | 2,531 |
| Noel O'Donovan | Fine Gael | 2,445 | Elected at count 4, on the quota | 2,539 |
| Rory Jackson | Green Party | 214 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Lorraine Deane | Aontú | 187 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Evie Nevin | Labour Party | 450 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Karen Coakley | Independent | 555 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Dónnchadh Ó Seaghda | Sinn Féin | 552 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Barry O'Mahony | Independent | 647 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Humphrey Deegan | Independent | 853 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Declan Hurley | Independent | 1,045 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Brendan McCarthy | Fine Gael | 1,384 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Pádraig O'Reilly | Fianna Fáil | 1,199 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 2,011 |
How Leap voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Cork County Council, by party: the light bar is candidates, the solid bar those elected.
Share of candidates elected, all of Ireland
Parties with 10 or more candidates across the 31 councils.
122 candidates stood for 55 seats on Cork County Council in June 2024, 2.2 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 51.4%, the 17th-highest of 31 councils. Fianna Fáil elected 19 of its 23 candidates. 40 of the 122 candidates were women (33%; 31% across the country), and 22 stood without a party. Across all 31 councils, 2,172 candidates stood for 949 seats, 2.3 for each.
Turnout in all 31 councils
Local elections: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Leap is in Cork South-West
3 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Fianna Fáil · Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
oireachtas.ie ↗Social Democrats
oireachtas.ie ↗Independent Ireland
oireachtas.ie ↗TDs as the Oireachtas lists them today, with any office they hold; a by-election or a change of party shows here, the 2024 count below does not change.
First preferences in Cork South-West, November 2024
Each party’s share of first preferences in Cork South-West
47,509 of 74,364 registered voters turned out, 63.9%: the 7th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). With 47,294 valid votes and 3 seats the quota was 11,824; the count ran to 11 rounds. Nobody reached the quota on first preferences, so every seat was filled on transfers.
Every candidate, count by count (11 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher O'Sullivan | Fianna Fáil | 9,115 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | 11,959 |
| Holly Cairns | Social Democrats | 9,421 | Elected at count 10, on the quota | 11,962 |
| Michael Collins | Independent Ireland | 11,002 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 11,824 |
| Deborah O'Driscoll | The Irish People | 287 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| John O'Leary | Independent | 29 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Mary Ryder | Green Party | 349 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Zoë Laplaud | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 349 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Evie Nevin | Labour Party | 436 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Máiréad Ruane | Aontú | 707 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Donnchadh Ó Seaghdha | Sinn Féin | 835 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Clare O'Callaghan | Sinn Féin | 1,448 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Alan Coleman | Independent | 2,191 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Tim Lombard | Fine Gael | 5,003 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Noel O'Donovan | Fine Gael | 6,122 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 9,856 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Cork County Council plans to spend €1,459 per resident in 2026
What its 2026 revenue budget pays for, service by service, and where the money comes from.
By service, per resident, 2026
What pays for it, 2026
Shares of what funds the 2026 budget; the tick is all 31 councils together.
Leaving out the HAP programme, that is the 12th-highest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 2% on 2025, when it was €516.5M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 26% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation, 81.2718, applies to the older rateable valuation that Cork City and Cork County still use, so it isn’t compared with the other councils’. The Local Property Tax brings in another 7%.
Budget per resident, all 31 councils (without the HAP programme)
Show the services as a table, 2025 and 2026
| Service | 2026 | Per resident | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing and building | €118.8M | €330 | €120.6M | -1% |
| Roads and transport | €134M | €372 | €136.4M | -2% |
| Water services | €48.6M | €135 | €48.8M | -1% |
| Planning and development | €53.3M | €148 | €48M | 11% |
| Environment and fire | €65.2M | €181 | €63.5M | 3% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €36.3M | €101 | €35.2M | 3% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €7.5M | €21 | €7.6M | -1% |
| Other services | €62.3M | €173 | €56.4M | 11% |
Budgets: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Local Authority Annual Budgets 2025 and 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), revenue account before inter-authority contributions are netted; residents: CSO Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0).
Cork County Council has 55 councillors, one for every 6,550 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Cork County Council has 55 councillors for 360,152 residents: about 6,550 each, the 5th-highest of 31 councils. The range runs from 9,410 residents per councillor on Dublin City to 1,960 on Leitrim County.
Residents per councillor, all 31 councils
Seats: local elections 2024 (Department of Housing, CC BY-SA 4.0); residents: CSO Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0).
Having a say in how Leap is run
Check, register or update your address online; the register closes 15 days before a poll (Sundays and holidays aside).
checktheregister.ie ↗Potholes, broken lights, dumping and graffiti, sent to the council.
FixYourStreet.ie ↗Council and municipal district meetings are open to the public, with agendas and minutes online.
corkcoco.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
corkcoco.ie ↗Each TD’s contact details are on the Oireachtas members page.
oireachtas.ie ↗The Electoral Commission’s guidance for candidates and how to be nominated.
electoralcommission.ie ↗What this data can and can’t tell you
- Single transferable vote. Voters number candidates in order. The quota is the valid votes divided by one more than the seats, plus one. A candidate over the quota is elected and their surplus passes on; when nobody is over it, the lowest is excluded and their votes pass on, until the seats are filled. The last seats can go to candidates below the quota once too few are left to fill them. First preferences show where support started, not who won.
- Which area. A town is placed in its council, local electoral area and Dáil constituency by where its residents live (Census 2022 Small Areas); an area holding 5% or more of them is listed too. Areas reach beyond the town, so their results are the whole area’s.
- Turnout. Votes cast, spoilt ones included, as a share of the register. Registers carry people who have moved or died, so every turnout reads low by a few points; compare areas, not the figure on its own.
- A close last seat. Shown only when the last candidate elected and the one left standing were both in the final count; the gap is between their votes then. Margins are not shown as headlines unless they are among the closest.
- Not on this page. Audited accounts and debt are published only as PDF statements, so they aren’t on this page. Votes before 2024 aren’t compared: the local electoral areas were redrawn for the 2024 local elections and the Dáil constituencies in 2023, so earlier results don’t cover the same ground. Who chairs each council and who runs it as chief executive aren’t in any open national list; each council names them on its website.
Questions about how Leap is run
Which council runs Leap?
Leap is run by Cork County Council, its only council: Ireland has one tier of local government.
How many councillors does Leap have?
The Skibbereen-West Cork local electoral area elects 5 councillors: Noel O'Donovan (Fine Gael), Joe Carroll (Fianna Fáil), Deirdre Kelly (Fianna Fáil), Daniel Sexton (Independent Ireland), Isobel Towse (Social Democrats).
Which party has the most seats on Cork County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Fianna Fáil 19 · Fine Gael 18 · Independent 8 · Independent Ireland 4 · Social Democrats 3 · Labour Party 2 · Sinn Féin 1 of 55 seats; a majority needs 28.
Who are Leap’s TDs?
Cork South-West elects 3 TDs: Christopher O'Sullivan (Fianna Fáil), Holly Cairns (Social Democrats) and Michael Collins (Independent Ireland).
What was the turnout in Leap?
In Skibbereen-West Cork, 56.4% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Cork South-West, 63.9% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Leap?
Local elections are held every five years, so the next are due in 2029, in May or June. A general election must be held within five years of the last one (November 2024), sooner if the Dáil is dissolved.
What does Cork County spend?
Cork County Council plans to spend €526M on day-to-day services in 2026, the most of it on roads and transport.
Sources: Local and general election results 2024: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY-SA 4.0); areas matched to towns by TownRatings from Tailte Éireann boundaries and CSO Census 2022 Small Areas (CC BY 4.0). · TDs: Houses of the Oireachtas Open Data (Oireachtas PSI Licence, CC BY 4.0). · Boundaries: Tailte Éireann (CC BY 4.0); population: CSO Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0).. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).