Photo: Bangers at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Castlebar had one of the highest turnouts at the 2024 local elections
Mayo County Council runs Balla: Ireland has one tier of local government, with no town council below it. The Castlebar local electoral area elected 7 councillors in June 2024: Fine Gael 3, Independent 2 and Fianna Fáil 2. No party holds a majority on Mayo County; Fine Gael has the most seats, 10 of 30, short of the 16 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Mayo has 5 members: Fine Gael 2, Fianna Fáil 1, Aontú 1 and Sinn Féin 1.
Balla’s council and votes, in 4 figures
High turnout
15,137 of Castlebar’s 25,979 registered voters turned out in June 2024, 58%: the 24th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49%). How Balla voted ↓
A crowded ballot
19 candidates stood for 7 seats in Castlebar in June 2024, the 27th-most contested ballot of 166 by candidates per seat. Local elections ↓
High turnout
71,317 of Mayo’s 112,205 registered voters turned out in November 2024, 64%: the 9th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 60%). Dáil Éireann ↓
A large budget for its size
Mayo County Council’s 2026 revenue budget comes to €1,590 for each resident, against €1,551 across all 31 councils, leaving out the HAP programme. Council money ↓
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 Mayo County Council
Seats on Mayo County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Fine Gael1015 stood
- Fianna Fáil1013 stood
- Independent722 stood
- Sinn Féin19 stood
- Independent Ireland13 stood
- Aontú12 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 16 of the 30 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Fine Gael is largest with 10. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fianna Fáil is second with 10 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
Balla 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.
mayo.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 Balla, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Castlebar local electoral areaCastlebar · 7 membersMichael KilcoyneGer DeereAl McDonnellBlackie K GavinCyril BurkeDonna SheridanHarry Barrett
- 2Mayo County Council30 councillors from 6 local electoral areasFine Gael 10 · Fianna Fáil 10 · Independent 7 · Sinn Féin 1 · Independent Ireland 1 · Aontú 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannMayo · 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).
7 councillors represent Castlebar
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Michael Kilcoyne
- Ger Deere
- Al McDonnell
- Blackie K Gavin
- Cyril Burke
- Donna Sheridan
- Harry Barrett
Also stood (12): Stephen Kerr (Independent), Martin McLoughlin (Fianna Fáil), Donna Hyland (Sinn Féin), Gerry Loftus (Independent), Donal Geraghty (Independent Ireland), Joe Daly (People Before Profit–Solidarity), Kamal Uddin (Labour Party), Maura O'Sullivan (Sinn Féin), Brendan Lavelle (Independent), Aidan Browne (Social Democrats), Tom Moran (The Irish People), Maksym Shalomon (Independent).
Balla’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Kilcoyne | Independent | Castlebar | 2,403 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Ger Deere | Fine Gael | Castlebar | 1,958 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Al McDonnell | Fianna Fáil | Castlebar | 1,631 | Elected at count 13, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Blackie K Gavin | Fianna Fáil | Castlebar | 1,526 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Cyril Burke | Fine Gael | Castlebar | 1,358 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Donna Sheridan | Fine Gael | Castlebar | 996 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Harry Barrett | Independent | Castlebar | 743 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | New |
6 of the 7 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 1 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Mayo County Council’s 6 local electoral areas
Every area of Mayo County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlebar | 7 | 19 | 25,979 | 58.3% | 1,877 |
| Ballina | 6 | 15 | 21,509 | 58.3% | 1,776 |
| Belmullet | 3 | 8 | 12,131 | 61.2% | 1,837 |
| Claremorris | 6 | 13 | 23,184 | 59.6% | 1,954 |
| Swinford | 4 | 9 | 15,477 | 57% | 1,744 |
| Westport | 4 | 9 | 15,148 | 61.9% | 1,865 |
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 3 of the 30 seats on Mayo County Council
Everyone elected to Mayo County Council across its 6 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 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 26% |
| Fine Gael | 10 | 2 | 9 | 29.5% |
| Independent | 7 | 0 | 5 | 25.8% |
| Aontú | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.7% |
| Independent Ireland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.4% |
| Sinn Féin | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9.4% |
3 of the 30 councillors are women, 10%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 25 sat on the council before the election and 5 are new to it.
Every member of Mayo County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| John O'Hara | Fine Gael | Ballina | Re-elected |
| Mark Duffy | Independent | Ballina | Re-elected |
| Michael Loftus | Fianna Fáil | Ballina | Re-elected |
| Annie May Reape | Fianna Fáil | Ballina | Re-elected |
| Joe Faughnan | Independent | Ballina | New |
| Jarlath Munnelly | Fine Gael | Ballina | Re-elected |
| Paul McNamara | Fianna Fáil | Belmullet | Re-elected |
| Gerry Coyle | Fine Gael | Belmullet | Re-elected |
| Sean Carey | Fianna Fáil | Belmullet | Re-elected |
| Michael Kilcoyne | Independent | Castlebar | Re-elected |
| Ger Deere | Fine Gael | Castlebar | Re-elected |
| Al McDonnell | Fianna Fáil | Castlebar | Re-elected |
| Blackie K Gavin | Fianna Fáil | Castlebar | Re-elected |
| Cyril Burke | Fine Gael | Castlebar | Re-elected |
| Donna Sheridan | Fine Gael | Castlebar | Re-elected |
| Harry Barrett | Independent | Castlebar | New |
| Patsy O'Brien | Independent | Claremorris | Re-elected |
| Richard Finn | Independent | Claremorris | Re-elected |
| Damien Ryan | Fianna Fáil | Claremorris | Re-elected |
| Alma Gallagher | Fine Gael | Claremorris | New |
| Michael Burke | Fine Gael | Claremorris | Re-elected |
| Paul Lawless | Aontú | Claremorris | New |
| Gerry Murray | Sinn Féin | Swinford | Re-elected |
| Adrian Forkan | Fianna Fáil | Swinford | Re-elected |
| John Caulfield | Fianna Fáil | Swinford | Re-elected |
| Neil Cruise | Fine Gael | Swinford | Re-elected |
| Chris Maxwell | Independent Ireland | Westport | New |
| Peter Flynn | Fine Gael | Westport | Re-elected |
| John O'Malley | Independent | Westport | Re-elected |
| Brendan Mulroy | Fianna Fáil | Westport | Re-elected |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Castlebar, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,877. Elected candidates are in bold.
Each party’s share of first preferences in Castlebar
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
Turnout was 58.3%, 15,137 of 25,979 registered voters: the 24th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). With 15,015 valid votes and 7 seats the quota was 1,877; the count ran to 14 rounds. Michael Kilcoyne (Independent) and Ger Deere (Fine Gael) passed the quota on first preferences; transfers filled the other 5. Harry Barrett (Independent), 9th on first preferences, won a seat on transfers, overtaking Stephen Kerr (Independent), who was 7th. Donna Sheridan (Fine Gael) took the last seat with 1,533 votes at the final count, 307 more than Stephen Kerr (Independent), on 1,226.
Every candidate, count by count (14 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyril Burke | Fine Gael | 1,358 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,779 |
| Harry Barrett | Independent | 743 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,575 |
| Donna Sheridan | Fine Gael | 996 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,533 |
| Al McDonnell | Fianna Fáil | 1,631 | Elected at count 13, on the quota | 1,918 |
| Blackie K Gavin | Fianna Fáil | 1,526 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | 1,877 |
| Michael Kilcoyne | Independent | 2,403 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,877 |
| Ger Deere | Fine Gael | 1,958 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,877 |
| Tom Moran | The Irish People | 42 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Maksym Shalomon | Independent | 35 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Aidan Browne | Social Democrats | 154 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Brendan Lavelle | Independent | 172 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Maura O'Sullivan | Sinn Féin | 206 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Kamal Uddin | Labour Party | 228 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Joe Daly | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 246 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Donal Geraghty | Independent Ireland | 442 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Gerry Loftus | Independent | 542 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Donna Hyland | Sinn Féin | 599 | Excluded at count 13 | – |
| Martin McLoughlin | Fianna Fáil | 835 | Excluded at count 14 | – |
| Stephen Kerr | Independent | 899 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,226 |
How Balla voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Mayo 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.
73 candidates stood for 30 seats on Mayo County Council in June 2024, 2.4 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 59.2%, the 4th-highest of 31 councils. Fine Gael elected 10 of its 15 candidates. 14 of the 73 candidates were women (19%; 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.
Balla is in Mayo
5 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Fine Gael · Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil · Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht; Minister for Social Protection
oireachtas.ie ↗Fine Gael
oireachtas.ie ↗Aontú
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 Mayo, November 2024
Each party’s share of first preferences in Mayo
Turnout was 63.6%, 71,317 of 112,205 registered voters: the 9th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). The quota was 11,812: 70,866 valid votes for 5 seats, counted over 11 rounds. Nobody reached the quota on first preferences, so every seat was filled on transfers. Paul Lawless (Aontú), 8th on first preferences, won a seat on transfers, overtaking Mark Duffy (Fine Gael), who was 4th. Paul Lawless (Aontú) took the last seat with 9,506 votes at the final count, 1,248 more than Patsy O'Brien (Independent), on 8,258.
Every candidate, count by count (11 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Lawless | Aontú | 4,482 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 9,506 |
| Keira Keogh | Fine Gael | 5,830 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | 12,475 |
| Alan Dillon | Fine Gael | 9,517 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 11,812 |
| Dara Calleary | Fianna Fáil | 8,620 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 11,812 |
| Rose Conway-Walsh | Sinn Féin | 10,117 | Elected at count 6, on the quota | 11,963 |
| Gerry Loftus | Independent | 423 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Sean Forkin | Independent | 66 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Joe Daly | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 1,199 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Mícheál Boxty Ó Conaill | Green Party | 925 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Chris Maxwell | Independent Ireland | 2,488 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Martina Jennings | Fine Gael | 3,488 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Stephen Kerr | Independent | 3,289 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Gerry Murray | Sinn Féin | 3,600 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Lisa Chambers | Fianna Fáil | 5,584 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Mark Duffy | Fine Gael | 6,009 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Patsy O'Brien | Independent | 5,229 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 8,258 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
€1,590 per resident: Mayo 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-highest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 3% on 2025, when it was €213.5M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 21% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2470, the 9th-highest 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 | €48M | €348 | €38.8M | 24% |
| Roads and transport | €64M | €464 | €62.9M | 2% |
| Water services | €15.4M | €112 | €21.7M | -29% |
| Planning and development | €24.9M | €180 | €24.8M | 0% |
| Environment and fire | €30.9M | €224 | €27.4M | 13% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €18.6M | €135 | €17.9M | 4% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €2.1M | €15 | €2M | 6% |
| Other services | €15.8M | €114 | €18M | -12% |
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).
Each of Mayo County Council’s 30 councillors speaks for about 4,600 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Mayo County Council has 30 councillors for 137,970 residents: about 4,600 each, the 14th-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 Balla 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.
mayo.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
mayo.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 Balla is run
Which council runs Balla?
The one council for Balla is Mayo County Council: Ireland has a single tier of local government.
How many councillors does Balla have?
The Castlebar local electoral area elects 7 councillors: Michael Kilcoyne (Independent), Ger Deere (Fine Gael), Al McDonnell (Fianna Fáil), Blackie K Gavin (Fianna Fáil), Cyril Burke (Fine Gael), Donna Sheridan (Fine Gael), Harry Barrett (Independent).
Which party has the most seats on Mayo County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Fine Gael 10 · Fianna Fáil 10 · Independent 7 · Sinn Féin 1 · Independent Ireland 1 · Aontú 1 of 30 seats; a majority needs 16.
Who are Balla’s TDs?
Mayo elects 5 TDs: Alan Dillon (Fine Gael), Dara Calleary (Fianna Fáil), Keira Keogh (Fine Gael), Paul Lawless (Aontú) and Rose Conway-Walsh (Sinn Féin).
What was the turnout in Balla?
In Castlebar, 58.3% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Mayo, 63.6% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Balla?
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 Mayo County spend?
Mayo County Council plans to spend €219.6M 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).