Photo: Zairon · CC BY 4.0Callan-Thomastown had one of the least contested ballots at the 2024 local elections, 9 candidates for 6 seats
Local government for Kells is Kilkenny County Council alone; Ireland has a single tier. The Callan-Thomastown local electoral area elected 6 councillors in June 2024: Fianna Fáil 3, Fine Gael 2 and Sinn Féin 1. No party holds a majority on Kilkenny County; Fianna Fáil has the most seats, 11 of 24, short of the 13 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Carlow-Kilkenny has 5 members: Fianna Fáil 3, Fine Gael 1 and Sinn Féin 1.
Kells’s council and votes, in 4 figures
A short ballot
9 candidates stood for 6 seats in Callan-Thomastown in June 2024, the 6th-least contested ballot of 166 by candidates per seat. Local elections ↓
No majority on Kilkenny County
Fianna Fáil won the most seats on Kilkenny County Council in June 2024, 11 of 24, short of the 13 a majority needs; it ran 12 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 ↓
A close last seat in the Dáil count
At the final count in Carlow-Kilkenny, Natasha Newsome Drennan (Sinn Féin) had 8,791 votes and Áine Gladney Knox (Sinn Féin) 8,659: the last seat went by 132, the 3rd-closest of 40. Dáil Éireann ↓
Low turnout
70,324 of Carlow-Kilkenny’s 120,821 registered voters turned out in November 2024, 58%: the 12th-lowest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 60%). Dáil Éireann ↓
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 Kilkenny County Council
Seats on Kilkenny County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Fianna Fáil1112 stood
- Fine Gael710 stood
- Independent27 stood
- Labour Party23 stood
- Sinn Féin18 stood
- Green Party13 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 13 of the 24 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Fianna Fáil is largest with 11. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fine Gael is second with 7 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
Kells 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.
kilkennycoco.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 Kells, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Callan-Thomastown local electoral areaCallan-Thomastown · 6 membersPeter ‘chap’ CleereJoe SheridanJoe LyonsMichael DoyleDeirdre CullenStephanie Doheny
- 2Kilkenny County Council24 councillors from 4 local electoral areasFianna Fáil 11 · Fine Gael 7 · Independent 2 · Labour Party 2 · Sinn Féin 1 · Green Party 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannCarlow-Kilkenny · 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).
6 councillors represent Callan-Thomastown
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Peter ‘chap’ Cleere
- Joe Sheridan
- Joe Lyons
- Michael Doyle
- Deirdre Cullen
- Stephanie Doheny
Also stood (3): Orla Kelly (Fine Gael), David Kennedy (Sinn Féin), Kristina Doyle (Green Party).
Kells’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter ‘chap’ Cleere | Fianna Fáil | Callan-Thomastown | 2,057 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Joe Sheridan | Fianna Fáil | Callan-Thomastown | 1,988 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | New |
| Joe Lyons | Fine Gael | Callan-Thomastown | 1,621 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Michael Doyle | Fine Gael | Callan-Thomastown | 1,342 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Deirdre Cullen | Fianna Fáil | Callan-Thomastown | 1,208 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Stephanie Doheny | Sinn Féin | Callan-Thomastown | 862 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | New |
4 of the 6 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 2 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Kilkenny County Council’s 4 local electoral areas
Every area of Kilkenny County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Callan-Thomastown | 6 | 9 | 20,510 | 53.8% | 1,546 |
| Castlecomer | 6 | 9 | 19,995 | 53.4% | 1,506 |
| Kilkenny | 7 | 20 | 20,706 | 47.9% | 1,223 |
| Piltown | 5 | 12 | 17,132 | 50.4% | 1,423 |
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 24 seats on Kilkenny County Council
Everyone elected to Kilkenny County Council across its 4 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 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 39.1% |
| Fine Gael | 7 | 2 | 7 | 29.4% |
| Labour Party | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6.1% |
| Independent | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7.3% |
| Green Party | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.8% |
| Sinn Féin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10.1% |
6 of the 24 councillors are women, 25%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 19 sat on the council before the election and 5 are new to it.
Every member of Kilkenny County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter ‘chap’ Cleere | Fianna Fáil | Callan-Thomastown | Re-elected |
| Joe Sheridan | Fianna Fáil | Callan-Thomastown | New |
| Joe Lyons | Fine Gael | Callan-Thomastown | Re-elected |
| Michael Doyle | Fine Gael | Callan-Thomastown | Re-elected |
| Deirdre Cullen | Fianna Fáil | Callan-Thomastown | Re-elected |
| Stephanie Doheny | Sinn Féin | Callan-Thomastown | New |
| Pat Fitzpatrick | Fianna Fáil | Castlecomer | Re-elected |
| Mary Hilda Cavanagh | Fine Gael | Castlecomer | Re-elected |
| Michael McCarthy | Fianna Fáil | Castlecomer | Re-elected |
| Maurice Shortall | Independent | Castlecomer | New |
| John Brennan | Fine Gael | Castlecomer | Re-elected |
| Michael Delaney | Fianna Fáil | Castlecomer | Re-elected |
| Andrew McGuinness | Fianna Fáil | Kilkenny | Re-elected |
| David Fitzgerald | Fine Gael | Kilkenny | Re-elected |
| Eugene McGuinness | Independent | Kilkenny | Re-elected |
| Joe Malone | Fianna Fáil | Kilkenny | Re-elected |
| John Coonan | Fianna Fáil | Kilkenny | Re-elected |
| Seán Ó Hargáin | Labour Party | Kilkenny | New |
| Maria Dollard | Green Party | Kilkenny | Re-elected |
| Patrick Dunphy | Fine Gael | Piltown | Re-elected |
| Tomás Breathnach | Labour Party | Piltown | Re-elected |
| Ger Frisby | Fianna Fáil | Piltown | Re-elected |
| Fidelis Doherty | Fine Gael | Piltown | Re-elected |
| Jenny Catt Slattery | Fianna Fáil | Piltown | New |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Callan-Thomastown, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,546. Elected candidates are in bold.
Each party’s share of first preferences in Callan-Thomastown
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
11,032 of 20,510 registered voters turned out, 53.8%: the 55th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). With 10,817 valid votes and 6 seats the quota was 1,546; the count ran to 6 rounds. Peter ‘chap’ Cleere (Fianna Fáil), Joe Sheridan (Fianna Fáil) and Joe Lyons (Fine Gael) passed the quota on first preferences; transfers filled the other 3. Stephanie Doheny (Sinn Féin) took the last seat with 1,442 votes at the final count, 225 more than Orla Kelly (Fine Gael), on 1,217.
Every candidate, count by count (6 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephanie Doheny | Sinn Féin | 862 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,442 |
| Michael Doyle | Fine Gael | 1,342 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | 1,558 |
| Deirdre Cullen | Fianna Fáil | 1,208 | Elected at count 3, on the quota | 1,546 |
| Joe Lyons | Fine Gael | 1,621 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,621 |
| Peter ‘chap’ Cleere | Fianna Fáil | 2,057 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,546 |
| Joe Sheridan | Fianna Fáil | 1,988 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,546 |
| Kristina Doyle | Green Party | 394 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| David Kennedy | Sinn Féin | 531 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Orla Kelly | Fine Gael | 814 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,217 |
How Kells voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Kilkenny 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.
50 candidates stood for 24 seats on Kilkenny County Council in June 2024, 2.1 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 51.4%, the 18th-highest of 31 councils. Fianna Fáil elected 11 of its 12 candidates. 13 of the 50 candidates were women (26%; 31% across the country), and 7 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.
Kells is in Carlow-Kilkenny
5 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Fine Gael
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil · Minister of State at the Department of Health
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil · Leas-Cheann Comhairle
oireachtas.ie ↗Sinn Féin
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil
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 Carlow-Kilkenny, November 2024
First-preference share by party in Carlow-Kilkenny
70,324 of 120,821 registered voters turned out, 58.2%: the 32nd-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). The quota was 11,627: 69,761 valid votes for 5 seats, counted over 16 rounds. No candidate reached the quota on first preferences: transfers filled every seat. Natasha Newsome Drennan (Sinn Féin) was 6th on first preferences and elected on transfers, ahead of Áine Gladney Knox (Sinn Féin), 5th on first preferences. The last seat went to Natasha Newsome Drennan (Sinn Féin) with 8,791 votes at the final count, 132 ahead of Áine Gladney Knox (Sinn Féin), who had 8,659.
Every candidate, count by count (16 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jennifer Murnane O'Connor | Fianna Fáil | 8,087 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 11,446 |
| Natasha Newsome Drennan | Sinn Féin | 5,495 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 8,791 |
| Peter 'Chap' Cleere | Fianna Fáil | 7,194 | Elected at count 15, on the quota | 11,627 |
| Catherine Callaghan | Fine Gael | 6,788 | Elected at count 14, on the quota | 11,627 |
| John McGuinness | Fianna Fáil | 9,794 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | 11,627 |
| David Egan | Liberty Republic | 169 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Noel G. Walsh | Independent | 65 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| John O'Leary | Independent | 26 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Tom Healy | Independent | 501 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Orla Donohoe | Irish Freedom Party | 737 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Adrienne Wallace | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 1,465 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Luke O'Connor | Independent | 1,232 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Seán Ó hArgáin | Labour Party | 1,725 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Eugene McGuinness | Independent | 1,622 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Malcolm Noonan | Green Party | 2,919 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Gary O'Neill | Aontú | 2,378 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Michael Doyle | Fine Gael | 4,955 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Patricia Stephenson | Social Democrats | 3,387 | Excluded at count 12 | – |
| David Fitzgerald | Fine Gael | 4,743 | Excluded at count 14 | – |
| Áine Gladney Knox | Sinn Féin | 6,479 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 8,659 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
€1,240 per resident: Kilkenny 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 9th-lowest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 7% on 2025, when it was €120.5M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 20% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2226, the 9th-lowest of the 31 councils that rate on revalued property. The Local Property Tax brings in another 11%.
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 | €36.9M | €354 | €30.8M | 20% |
| Roads and transport | €33M | €317 | €31.4M | 5% |
| Water services | €5.9M | €57 | €7.2M | -17% |
| Planning and development | €16.1M | €155 | €15.4M | 4% |
| Environment and fire | €20M | €192 | €19M | 5% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €10.2M | €98 | €9.4M | 9% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €348K | €3 | €354K | -1% |
| Other services | €6.8M | €66 | €6.9M | -1% |
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).
Kilkenny County Council has 24 councillors, one for every 4,340 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Kilkenny County Council has 24 councillors for 104,160 residents: about 4,340 each, the 9th-lowest 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 Kells 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.
kilkennycoco.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
kilkennycoco.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 Kells is run
Which council runs Kells?
The one council for Kells is Kilkenny County Council: Ireland has a single tier of local government.
How many councillors does Kells have?
The Callan-Thomastown local electoral area elects 6 councillors: Peter ‘chap’ Cleere (Fianna Fáil), Joe Sheridan (Fianna Fáil), Joe Lyons (Fine Gael), Michael Doyle (Fine Gael), Deirdre Cullen (Fianna Fáil), Stephanie Doheny (Sinn Féin).
Which party has the most seats on Kilkenny County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Fianna Fáil 11 · Fine Gael 7 · Independent 2 · Labour Party 2 · Sinn Féin 1 · Green Party 1 of 24 seats; a majority needs 13.
Who are Kells’s TDs?
Carlow-Kilkenny elects 5 TDs: Catherine Callaghan (Fine Gael), Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fáil), John McGuinness (Fianna Fáil), Natasha Newsome Drennan (Sinn Féin) and Peter 'Chap' Cleere (Fianna Fáil).
What was the turnout in Kells?
In Callan-Thomastown, 53.8% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Carlow-Kilkenny, 58.2% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Kells?
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 Kilkenny County spend?
Kilkenny County Council plans to spend €129.4M 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).