Waterford had one of the lowest turnouts at the 2024 general election

A party needs 17 of the 32 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Independent is largest with 8. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fine Gael is second with 8 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).

Who to ask

Green: the council. Gold: a government department or one of its agencies. Grey: another public body.

1. 1

   The Portlaw-Kilmacthomas local electoral areaPortlaw-Kilmacthomas · 5 members
   Liam BrazilSeanie PowerJohn O'LearyDeclan CluneCatherine Burke
2. 2

   Waterford City and County Council32 councillors from 6 local electoral areas
   Independent 8 · Fine Gael 8 · Sinn Féin 7 · Fianna Fáil 5 · Labour Party 3 · Social Democrats 1
3. 3

   Dáil ÉireannWaterford · 4 members
   Conor D. McGuinnessDavid CullinaneJohn CumminsMary Butler

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).

Kill’s councillors, one by one

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 Waterford City and County Council’s 6 local electoral areas

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.

5 of the 32 councillors are women, 16%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 22 sat on the council before the election and 10 are new to it.

The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.

7,861 of 15,401 registered voters turned out, 51%: the 81st-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). With 7,788 valid votes and 5 seats the quota was 1,299; the count ran to 8 rounds. Liam Brazil (Fine Gael) and Seanie Power (Fine Gael) reached the quota on first preferences alone, and transfers decided the other 3. The last seat went to Catherine Burke (Sinn Féin) with 1,169 votes at the final count, 327 ahead of Ray Murphy (Fianna Fáil), who had 842.

How Kill voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.

79 candidates stood for 32 seats on Waterford City and County Council in June 2024, 2.5 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 50%, the 21st-highest of 31 councils. Independent elected 8 of its 23 candidates. 23 of the 79 candidates were women (29%; 31% across the country), and 23 stood without a party. Across all 31 councils, 2,172 candidates stood for 949 seats, 2.3 for each.

Local elections: same source as Who’s in charge, above.

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 Waterford, November 2024

Turnout was 55.6%, 54,013 of 97,153 registered voters: the 39th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). The quota was 10,731: 53,650 valid votes for 4 seats, counted over 12 rounds. David Cullinane (Sinn Féin) reached the quota on first preferences alone, and transfers decided the other 3. The last seat went to Conor D. McGuinness (Sinn Féin) with 9,519 votes at the final count, 993 ahead of Matt Shanahan (Independent), who had 8,526.

Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.

Leaving out the HAP programme, that is the 6th-highest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 7% on 2025, when it was €193.8M.

Commercial rates on businesses pay for 20% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.3082, the 6th-highest of the 31 councils that rate on revalued property. The Local Property Tax brings in another 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).

Waterford City and County Council has 32 councillors for 127,363 residents: about 3,980 each, the 7th-lowest of 31 councils. The range runs from 9,410 residents per councillor on Dublin City to 1,960 on Leitrim County.

Seats: local elections 2024 (Department of Housing, CC BY-SA 4.0); residents: CSO Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0).