Photo: Graham Horn · CC BY-SA 2.0Turnout in Conamara South was among the highest at the 2024 local elections
One council serves Bearna: Galway County Council. Ireland has no town or district councils. The Conamara South local electoral area elected 5 councillors in June 2024: Independent Ireland 2, Fine Gael 1, Independent 1 and Fianna Fáil 1. No party holds a majority on Galway County; Fine Gael has the most seats, 13 of 39, short of the 20 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Galway West has 5 members: Fine Gael 2, Fianna Fáil 1, Sinn Féin 1 and Independent 1.
Bearna’s council and votes, in 3 figures
High turnout
9,971 of Conamara South’s 14,650 registered voters turned out in June 2024, 68%: the 1st-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49%). How Bearna voted ↓
A lean budget for its size
Galway County Council’s 2026 revenue budget comes to €1,045 for each resident, against €1,551 across all 31 councils, leaving out the HAP programme. Council money ↓
A crowded ballot
16 candidates stood for 5 seats in Conamara South in June 2024, the 5th-most contested ballot of 166 by candidates per seat. Local elections ↓
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 Galway County Council
Seats on Galway County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Fine Gael1314 stood
- Fianna Fáil1117 stood
- Independent715 stood
- Independent Ireland67 stood
- Sinn Féin29 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 20 of the 39 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Fine Gael is largest with 13. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fianna Fáil is second with 11 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
Bearna 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.
galway.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 Bearna, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Conamara South local electoral areaConamara South · 5 membersNoel ThomasPadraig Mac An IomaireTomas Curraoín ÓMáirtin LeeMichael Leainde
- 2Galway County Council39 councillors from 7 local electoral areasFine Gael 13 · Fianna Fáil 11 · Independent 7 · Independent Ireland 6 · Sinn Féin 2
- 3Dáil ÉireannGalway West · 5 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 Conamara South
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Noel Thomas
- Padraig Mac An Iomaire
- Tomas Curraoín Ó
- Máirtin Lee
- Michael Leainde
Also stood (11): Daragh Ó Tuairisg (Fianna Fáil), Dáithi Ó Cualáin (Fianna Fáil), Kevin O Hara (Sinn Féin), Alastair McKinstry (Green Party), Sinead O Brien (Independent), Pj Ó Flatharta (Independent), Michael Curran (Independent), Doran McMahon (Irish Freedom Party), Aidan Walsh (The Irish People), Geri Slevin (Independent), Criostóir Breathnach (Independent).
Bearna’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noel Thomas | Independent Ireland | Conamara South | 1,569 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Padraig Mac An Iomaire | Fine Gael | Conamara South | 1,350 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Tomas Curraoín Ó | Independent | Conamara South | 974 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Máirtin Lee | Fianna Fáil | Conamara South | 814 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | New |
| Michael Leainde | Independent Ireland | Conamara South | 708 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | New |
3 of the 5 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 2 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Galway County Council’s 7 local electoral areas
Every area of Galway County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conamara South | 5 | 16 | 14,650 | 68.1% | 1,639 |
| Athenry-Oranmore | 7 | 13 | 26,074 | 53.2% | 1,718 |
| Ballinasloe | 6 | 8 | 24,678 | 50.9% | 1,777 |
| Conamara North | 4 | 8 | 19,718 | 40.8% | 1,591 |
| Gort-Kinvara | 5 | 8 | 19,135 | 52.5% | 1,658 |
| Loughrea | 5 | 9 | 19,964 | 52.4% | 1,728 |
| Tuam | 7 | 17 | 27,234 | 57% | 1,920 |
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.
Women hold 6 of the 39 seats on Galway County Council
Everyone elected to Galway County Council across its 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fine Gael | 13 | 1 | 9 | 29.4% |
| Fianna Fáil | 11 | 2 | 9 | 27.3% |
| Independent | 7 | 3 | 5 | 16.8% |
| Independent Ireland | 6 | 0 | 3 | 12% |
| Sinn Féin | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7.9% |
6 of the 39 councillors are women, 15%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 27 sat on the council before the election and 12 are new to it.
Every member of Galway County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Dolan | Fianna Fáil | Athenry-Oranmore | Re-elected |
| Tomas Grealish | Independent | Athenry-Oranmore | New |
| David Collins | Fine Gael | Athenry-Oranmore | Re-elected |
| James Charity | Independent | Athenry-Oranmore | Re-elected |
| Peter Feeney | Fine Gael | Athenry-Oranmore | New |
| Louis O Hara | Sinn Féin | Athenry-Oranmore | New |
| Cillian Keane | Fianna Fáil | Athenry-Oranmore | New |
| Michael Connolly | Fianna Fáil | Ballinasloe | Re-elected |
| Declan Geraghty | Independent Ireland | Ballinasloe | Re-elected |
| Evelyn Parsons | Independent | Ballinasloe | New |
| Alan Harney | Fine Gael | Ballinasloe | New |
| Dermot Connolly | Sinn Féin | Ballinasloe | Re-elected |
| Peter Keaveney | Fine Gael | Ballinasloe | Re-elected |
| Thomas Welby | Independent | Conamara North | Re-elected |
| Seamus Walsh | Independent Ireland | Conamara North | New |
| Gerry King | Fianna Fáil | Conamara North | Re-elected |
| Eileen Mannion | Fine Gael | Conamara North | Re-elected |
| Noel Thomas | Independent Ireland | Conamara South | Re-elected |
| Padraig Mac An Iomaire | Fine Gael | Conamara South | Re-elected |
| Tomas Curraoín Ó | Independent | Conamara South | Re-elected |
| Máirtin Lee | Fianna Fáil | Conamara South | New |
| Michael Leainde | Independent Ireland | Conamara South | New |
| Pj Murphy | Fine Gael | Gort-Kinvara | Re-elected |
| Martina Kinane | Fianna Fáil | Gort-Kinvara | Re-elected |
| Geraldine Donohue | Independent | Gort-Kinvara | Re-elected |
| Paul Killilea | Fine Gael | Gort-Kinvara | New |
| Gerry Finnerty | Fianna Fáil | Gort-Kinvara | Re-elected |
| Shane Curley | Fianna Fáil | Loughrea | Re-elected |
| Jimmy McClearn | Fine Gael | Loughrea | Re-elected |
| Declan Kelly | Independent Ireland | Loughrea | Re-elected |
| Michael Maher | Fine Gael | Loughrea | Re-elected |
| Ivan Canning | Fianna Fáil | Loughrea | Re-elected |
| Andrew Reddington | Fine Gael | Tuam | Re-elected |
| Pete Roche | Fine Gael | Tuam | Re-elected |
| Shaun Cunniffe | Independent Ireland | Tuam | New |
| Donagh Mark Killilea | Fianna Fáil | Tuam | Re-elected |
| Mary Hoade | Fianna Fáil | Tuam | Re-elected |
| Ollie Turner | Fine Gael | Tuam | New |
| Karey McHugh Farag | Independent | Tuam | Re-elected |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Conamara South, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,639. Elected candidates are in bold.
Each party’s share of first preferences in Conamara South
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
Turnout was 68.1%, 9,971 of 14,650 registered voters: the 1st-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). The quota was 1,639: 9,830 valid votes for 5 seats, counted over 10 rounds. Nobody reached the quota on first preferences, so every seat was filled on transfers. Michael Leainde (Independent Ireland), 7th on first preferences, won a seat on transfers, overtaking Daragh Ó Tuairisg (Fianna Fáil), who was 4th. Máirtin Lee (Fianna Fáil) took the last seat with 1,372 votes at the final count, 26 more than Daragh Ó Tuairisg (Fianna Fáil), on 1,346.
Every candidate, count by count (10 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomas Curraoín Ó | Independent | 974 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,596 |
| Michael Leainde | Independent Ireland | 708 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,379 |
| Máirtin Lee | Fianna Fáil | 814 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,372 |
| Padraig Mac An Iomaire | Fine Gael | 1,350 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 1,639 |
| Noel Thomas | Independent Ireland | 1,569 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | 1,639 |
| Doran McMahon | Irish Freedom Party | 122 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Aidan Walsh | The Irish People | 59 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Geri Slevin | Independent | 43 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Criostóir Breathnach | Independent | 33 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Michael Curran | Independent | 400 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Sinead O Brien | Independent | 435 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Pj Ó Flatharta | Independent | 423 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Kevin O Hara | Sinn Féin | 663 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Alastair McKinstry | Green Party | 623 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Dáithi Ó Cualáin | Fianna Fáil | 764 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Daragh Ó Tuairisg | Fianna Fáil | 850 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,346 |
How Bearna voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Galway 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.
79 candidates stood for 39 seats on Galway County Council in June 2024, 2 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 53.1%, the 13th-highest of 31 councils. Fine Gael elected 13 of its 14 candidates. 17 of the 79 candidates were women (22%; 31% across the country), and 15 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.
Bearna is in Galway West
5 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Fine Gael · Minister for Education and Youth
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil
oireachtas.ie ↗Sinn Féin
oireachtas.ie ↗Independent · Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
oireachtas.ie ↗Fine Gael
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 Galway West, November 2024
Each party’s share of first preferences in Galway West
Turnout was 58.5%, 60,652 of 103,713 registered voters: the 28th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). With 60,277 valid votes and 5 seats the quota was 10,047; the count ran to 16 rounds. No candidate reached the quota on first preferences: transfers filled every seat. Noel Grealish (Independent) took the last seat with 9,649 votes at the final count, 900 more than Noel Thomas (Independent Ireland), on 8,749.
Every candidate, count by count (16 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noel Grealish | Independent | 6,887 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 9,649 |
| John Connolly | Fianna Fáil | 7,192 | Elected at count 14, on the quota | 10,047 |
| Hildegarde Naughton | Fine Gael | 6,011 | Elected at count 14, on the quota | 10,047 |
| Mairéad Farrell | Sinn Féin | 8,164 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | 10,047 |
| Catherine Connolly | Independent | 6,747 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | 10,047 |
| Patrick Feeney | Independent | 52 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Doran McMahon | Irish Freedom Party | 450 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Aj Cahill | The Irish People | 469 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Maisie McMaster | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 905 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Pádraig Lenihan | Aontú | 1,233 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Pauline O'Reilly | Green Party | 1,839 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Mike Cubbard | Independent | 2,219 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Helen Ogbu | Labour Party | 1,973 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Gráinne Seoige | Fianna Fáil | 2,929 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Eibhlín Seoighthe | Social Democrats | 2,172 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Seán Kyne | Fine Gael | 5,335 | Excluded at count 14 | – |
| Noel Thomas | Independent Ireland | 5,700 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 8,749 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
€1,045 per resident: Galway County Council’s day-to-day budget for 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 1st-lowest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 5% on 2025, when it was €193.6M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 21% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2400, the 1st-lowest of the 31 councils that rate on revalued property. The Local Property Tax brings in another 12%.
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 | €33.4M | €173 | €31.8M | 5% |
| Roads and transport | €65.5M | €339 | €61.8M | 6% |
| Water services | €15.2M | €79 | €17M | -10% |
| Planning and development | €23.5M | €121 | €20.7M | 13% |
| Environment and fire | €31.3M | €162 | €28.1M | 12% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €13.9M | €72 | €13.3M | 5% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €2.9M | €15 | €2.8M | 1% |
| Other services | €17.6M | €91 | €18.1M | -3% |
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).
Galway County Council has 39 councillors, one for every 4,960 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Galway County Council has 39 councillors for 193,323 residents: about 4,960 each, the 10th-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 Bearna 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.
galway.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
galway.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 Bearna is run
Which council runs Bearna?
The one council for Bearna is Galway County Council: Ireland has a single tier of local government.
How many councillors does Bearna have?
The Conamara South local electoral area elects 5 councillors: Noel Thomas (Independent Ireland), Padraig Mac An Iomaire (Fine Gael), Tomas Curraoín Ó (Independent), Máirtin Lee (Fianna Fáil), Michael Leainde (Independent Ireland).
Which party has the most seats on Galway County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Fine Gael 13 · Fianna Fáil 11 · Independent 7 · Independent Ireland 6 · Sinn Féin 2 of 39 seats; a majority needs 20.
Who are Bearna’s TDs?
Galway West elects 5 TDs: Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael), John Connolly (Fianna Fáil), Mairéad Farrell (Sinn Féin), Noel Grealish (Independent) and Seán Kyne (Fine Gael).
What was the turnout in Bearna?
In Conamara South, 68.1% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Galway West, 58.5% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Bearna?
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 Galway County spend?
Galway County Council plans to spend €203.3M 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).