Photo: William Murphy · CC BY-SA 2.0Kildare County Council runs on one of the smallest budgets per resident of any council
Kildare County Council is the council for Maynooth, and the only one: Ireland has a single tier of local government. The Maynooth local electoral area elected 5 councillors in June 2024: Fianna Fáil 2, Fine Gael 1, Labour Party 1 and Social Democrats 1. No party holds a majority on Kildare County; Fianna Fáil has the most seats, 12 of 40, short of the 21 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Kildare North has 5 members: Fianna Fáil 2, Social Democrats 1, Fine Gael 1 and Sinn Féin 1.
Maynooth’s council and votes, in 4 figures
A lean budget for its size
Kildare County Council’s 2026 revenue budget comes to €1,147 for each resident, against €1,551 across all 31 councils, leaving out the HAP programme. Council money ↓
A short ballot
9 candidates stood for 5 seats in Maynooth in June 2024, the 23rd-least contested ballot of 166 by candidates per seat. Local elections ↓
Low turnout
9,480 of Maynooth’s 20,869 registered voters turned out in June 2024, 45%: the 43rd-lowest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49%). How Maynooth voted ↓
No majority on Kildare County
Fianna Fáil won the most seats on Kildare County Council in June 2024, 12 of 40, short of the 21 a majority needs; it ran 14 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 Kildare County Council
Seats on Kildare County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Fianna Fáil1214 stood
- Fine Gael1115 stood
- Social Democrats78 stood
- Labour Party58 stood
- Independent314 stood
- Sinn Féin114 stood
- Independent Ireland15 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 21 of the 40 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Fianna Fáil is largest with 12. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fine Gael 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
Maynooth 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.
kildarecoco.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 Maynooth, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Maynooth local electoral areaMaynooth · 5 membersNaoise Ó CearúilTim DurkanAngela FeeneyPeter MelrosePaul Ward
- 2Kildare County Council40 councillors from 8 local electoral areasFianna Fáil 12 · Fine Gael 11 · Social Democrats 7 · Labour Party 5 · Independent 3 · Sinn Féin 1 · Independent Ireland 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannKildare North · 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 Maynooth
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Naoise Ó Cearúil
- Tim Durkan
- Angela Feeney
- Peter Melrose
- Paul Ward
Also stood (4): Tara Lane (Fine Gael), Evelyn Gaynor (Sinn Féin), Liam Meade (Independent Ireland), Peter Hamilton (Green Party).
Maynooth’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naoise Ó Cearúil | Fianna Fáil | Maynooth | 1,880 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Tim Durkan | Fine Gael | Maynooth | 1,447 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Angela Feeney | Labour Party | Maynooth | 1,247 | Elected at count 6, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Peter Melrose | Social Democrats | Maynooth | 1,195 | Elected at count 6, on the quota | New |
| Paul Ward | Fianna Fáil | Maynooth | 1,095 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
4 of the 5 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 1 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Kildare County Council’s 8 local electoral areas
Every area of Kildare County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maynooth | 5 | 9 | 20,869 | 45.4% | 1,566 |
| Athy | 5 | 13 | 21,249 | 47.4% | 1,658 |
| Celbridge | 4 | 8 | 16,662 | 41.8% | 1,376 |
| Clane | 5 | 13 | 20,665 | 45.1% | 1,537 |
| Kildare | 5 | 13 | 19,042 | 44.2% | 1,382 |
| Leixlip | 3 | 5 | 14,011 | 44.4% | 1,519 |
| Naas | 7 | 15 | 30,153 | 46.6% | 1,739 |
| Newbridge | 6 | 14 | 25,116 | 46.8% | 1,663 |
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 40 councillors on Kildare County Council, women hold 13
Everyone elected to Kildare County Council across its 8 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 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 21.4% |
| Fine Gael | 11 | 4 | 9 | 28.1% |
| Social Democrats | 7 | 2 | 4 | 13.4% |
| Labour Party | 5 | 3 | 5 | 9.6% |
| Independent | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7.9% |
| Independent Ireland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4% |
| Sinn Féin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8.8% |
13 of the 40 councillors are women, 33%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 30 sat on the council before the election and 10 are new to it.
Every member of Kildare County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aoife Breslin | Labour Party | Athy | Re-elected |
| Ivan Keatley | Fine Gael | Athy | Re-elected |
| Brian Dooley | Fianna Fáil | Athy | Re-elected |
| Veralouise Behan | Fianna Fáil | Athy | Re-elected |
| Mark Leigh | Labour Party | Athy | Re-elected |
| David Trost | Fianna Fáil | Celbridge | New |
| Claire O'Rourke | Social Democrats | Celbridge | New |
| Lumi Panaite Fahey | Fine Gael | Celbridge | New |
| Rupert Heather | Labour Party | Celbridge | Re-elected |
| Brendan Wyse | Fine Gael | Clane | Re-elected |
| Pádraig McEvoy | Independent | Clane | Re-elected |
| Aidan Farrelly | Social Democrats | Clane | Re-elected |
| William Durkan | Fine Gael | Clane | New |
| Daragh Fitzpatrick | Fianna Fáil | Clane | Re-elected |
| Suzanne Doyle | Fianna Fáil | Kildare | Re-elected |
| Kevin Duffy | Fine Gael | Kildare | Re-elected |
| Brian O'Loughlin | Fianna Fáil | Kildare | New |
| Pat Balfe | Social Democrats | Kildare | New |
| Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh | Sinn Féin | Kildare | New |
| Joe Neville | Fine Gael | Leixlip | Re-elected |
| Nuala Killeen | Social Democrats | Leixlip | Re-elected |
| Bernard Caldwell | Fianna Fáil | Leixlip | Re-elected |
| Naoise Ó Cearúil | Fianna Fáil | Maynooth | Re-elected |
| Tim Durkan | Fine Gael | Maynooth | Re-elected |
| Angela Feeney | Labour Party | Maynooth | Re-elected |
| Peter Melrose | Social Democrats | Maynooth | New |
| Paul Ward | Fianna Fáil | Maynooth | Re-elected |
| Bill Clear | Social Democrats | Naas | Re-elected |
| Fintan Brett | Fine Gael | Naas | Re-elected |
| Evie Sammon | Fine Gael | Naas | Re-elected |
| Seamie Moore | Independent | Naas | Re-elected |
| Carmel Kelly | Fianna Fáil | Naas | Re-elected |
| Anne Breen | Labour Party | Naas | Re-elected |
| Ger Dunne | Independent Ireland | Naas | New |
| Tracey O'Dwyer | Fine Gael | Newbridge | Re-elected |
| Peggy O'Dwyer | Fine Gael | Newbridge | Re-elected |
| Chris Pender | Social Democrats | Newbridge | Re-elected |
| Noel Heavey | Fianna Fáil | Newbridge | Re-elected |
| Rob Power | Fianna Fáil | Newbridge | Re-elected |
| Tom McDonnell | Independent | Newbridge | New |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Maynooth, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,566. Elected candidates are in bold.
First-preference share by party in Maynooth
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
Turnout was 45.4%, 9,480 of 20,869 registered voters: the 124th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). With 9,391 valid votes and 5 seats the quota was 1,566; the count ran to 7 rounds. Naoise Ó Cearúil (Fianna Fáil) passed the quota on first preferences; transfers filled the other 4. Paul Ward (Fianna Fáil) took the last seat with 1,347 votes at the final count, 245 more than Tara Lane (Fine Gael), on 1,102.
Every candidate, count by count (7 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Ward | Fianna Fáil | 1,095 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,347 |
| Angela Feeney | Labour Party | 1,247 | Elected at count 6, on the quota | 1,678 |
| Peter Melrose | Social Democrats | 1,195 | Elected at count 6, on the quota | 1,566 |
| Tim Durkan | Fine Gael | 1,447 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | 1,566 |
| Naoise Ó Cearúil | Fianna Fáil | 1,880 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,566 |
| Peter Hamilton | Green Party | 498 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Liam Meade | Independent Ireland | 534 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Evelyn Gaynor | Sinn Féin | 543 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Tara Lane | Fine Gael | 952 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,102 |
How Maynooth voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Kildare 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.
90 candidates stood for 40 seats on Kildare County Council in June 2024, 2.3 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 45.5%, the 25th-highest of 31 councils. Fianna Fáil elected 12 of its 14 candidates. 35 of the 90 candidates were women (39%; 31% across the country), and 14 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.
Maynooth is in Kildare North
5 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Social Democrats
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil · Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
oireachtas.ie ↗Fine Gael
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil
oireachtas.ie ↗Sinn Féin
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 Kildare North, November 2024
Each party’s share of first preferences in Kildare North
Turnout was 60.4%, 57,386 of 95,055 registered voters: the 19th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). The quota was 9,505: 57,029 valid votes for 5 seats, counted over 12 rounds. No candidate reached the quota on first preferences: transfers filled every seat. Naoise Ó Cearúil (Fianna Fáil) took the last seat with 8,444 votes at the final count, 1,563 more than Bernard Durkan (Fine Gael), on 6,881.
Every candidate, count by count (12 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Neville | Fine Gael | 5,533 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 8,641 |
| Naoise Ó Cearúil | Fianna Fáil | 5,872 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 8,444 |
| Réada Cronin | Sinn Féin | 6,806 | Elected at count 12, on the quota | 10,381 |
| Aidan Farrelly | Social Democrats | 7,611 | Elected at count 10, on the quota | 9,505 |
| James Lawless | Fianna Fáil | 8,734 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 9,505 |
| Avril Corcoran | The Irish People | 533 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Seán Gill | Centre Party of Ireland | 67 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Leah Whelan | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 1,156 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Caroline Hogan | Sinn Féin | 1,244 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Gerry Waters | Irish Freedom Party | 1,254 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Vincent P Martin | Green Party | 2,059 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Una O'Connor | Aontú | 2,174 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Evie Sammon | Fine Gael | 3,111 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Angela Feeney | Labour Party | 3,337 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Bill Clear | Independent | 2,906 | Excluded at count 12 | – |
| Bernard Durkan | Fine Gael | 4,632 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 6,881 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
€1,147 per resident: Kildare 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 3rd-lowest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 10% on 2025, when it was €260.4M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 27% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2313, the 3rd-lowest of the 31 councils that rate on revalued property. The Local Property Tax brings in another 10%.
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 | €115.5M | €466 | €101.7M | 14% |
| Roads and transport | €51.4M | €207 | €48.6M | 6% |
| Water services | €9M | €36 | €10.2M | -12% |
| Planning and development | €34.3M | €138 | €31.2M | 10% |
| Environment and fire | €29.9M | €121 | €26.4M | 13% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €21.4M | €87 | €19.6M | 9% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €1.5M | €6 | €1.4M | 4% |
| Other services | €22.7M | €92 | €21.3M | 6% |
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).
Kildare County Council has 40 councillors, one for every 6,190 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Kildare County Council has 40 councillors for 247,774 residents: about 6,190 each, the 6th-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 Maynooth 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.
kildarecoco.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
kildarecoco.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 Maynooth is run
Which council runs Maynooth?
The one council for Maynooth is Kildare County Council: Ireland has a single tier of local government.
How many councillors does Maynooth have?
The Maynooth local electoral area elects 5 councillors: Naoise Ó Cearúil (Fianna Fáil), Tim Durkan (Fine Gael), Angela Feeney (Labour Party), Peter Melrose (Social Democrats), Paul Ward (Fianna Fáil).
Which party has the most seats on Kildare County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Fianna Fáil 12 · Fine Gael 11 · Social Democrats 7 · Labour Party 5 · Independent 3 · Sinn Féin 1 · Independent Ireland 1 of 40 seats; a majority needs 21.
Who are Maynooth’s TDs?
Kildare North elects 5 TDs: Aidan Farrelly (Social Democrats), James Lawless (Fianna Fáil), Joe Neville (Fine Gael), Naoise Ó Cearúil (Fianna Fáil) and Réada Cronin (Sinn Féin).
What was the turnout in Maynooth?
In Maynooth, 45.4% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Kildare North, 60.4% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Maynooth?
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 Kildare County spend?
Kildare County Council plans to spend €285.7M on day-to-day services in 2026, the most of it on housing and building.
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).