Photo: Dylan Moore · CC BY-SA 2.0Fianna Fáil has 9 of the 20 seats on Westmeath County Council, few parties hold more on a council
One council serves Ballinalack: Westmeath County Council. Ireland has no town or district councils. The Moate local electoral area elected 4 councillors in June 2024: Fianna Fáil 2, Fine Gael 1 and Labour Party 1. No party holds a majority on Westmeath County; Fianna Fáil has the most seats, 9 of 20, short of the 11 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Longford-Westmeath has 5 members: Fine Gael 2, Independent 1, Fianna Fáil 1 and Sinn Féin 1.
Ballinalack’s council and votes, in 3 figures
No majority on Westmeath County
Fianna Fáil won the most seats on Westmeath County Council in June 2024, 9 of 20, short of the 11 a majority needs; it ran 10 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 ↓
High turnout
9,193 of Moate’s 16,297 registered voters turned out in June 2024, 56%: the 36th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49%). How Ballinalack voted ↓
Low turnout
62,353 of Longford-Westmeath’s 106,814 registered voters turned out in November 2024, 58%: the 14th-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 Westmeath County Council
Seats on Westmeath County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Fianna Fáil910 stood
- Fine Gael48 stood
- Independent26 stood
- Labour Party24 stood
- Sinn Féin27 stood
- Independent Ireland13 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 11 of the 20 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Fianna Fáil is largest with 9. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fine Gael is second with 4 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
Ballinalack 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.
westmeathcoco.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 Ballinalack, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Moate local electoral areaMoate · 4 membersTom FarrellVinny McCormackLiam McDanielJohnnie Penrose
- 2Westmeath County Council20 councillors from 4 local electoral areasFianna Fáil 9 · Fine Gael 4 · Independent 2 · Labour Party 2 · Sinn Féin 2 · Independent Ireland 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannLongford-Westmeath · 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).
4 councillors represent Moate
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Tom Farrell
- Vinny McCormack
- Liam McDaniel
- Johnnie Penrose
Also stood (4): Michael O'Brien (Independent), Paul Hogan (Independent Ireland), John Lawlor (Sinn Féin), Shane Lynam (Irish Freedom Party).
Ballinalack’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Farrell | Fine Gael | Moate | 2,185 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Vinny McCormack | Fianna Fáil | Moate | 1,630 | Elected at count 4, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Liam McDaniel | Fianna Fáil | Moate | 1,480 | Elected at count 5, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Johnnie Penrose | Labour Party | Moate | 1,441 | Elected at count 5, on the quota | Re-elected |
4 of the 4 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 0 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Westmeath County Council’s 4 local electoral areas
Every area of Westmeath County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moate | 4 | 8 | 16,297 | 56.4% | 1,825 |
| Athlone | 5 | 11 | 20,464 | 47% | 1,591 |
| Kinnegad | 5 | 16 | 18,090 | 54.7% | 1,630 |
| Mullingar | 6 | 13 | 20,673 | 45.5% | 1,324 |
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 20 seats on Westmeath County Council
Everyone elected to Westmeath 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 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 31% |
| Fine Gael | 4 | 1 | 4 | 19.7% |
| Labour Party | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9.5% |
| Independent | 2 | 0 | 1 | 19.7% |
| Sinn Féin | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8.7% |
| Independent Ireland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.2% |
3 of the 20 councillors are women, 15%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 15 sat on the council before the election and 5 are new to it.
Every member of Westmeath County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin 'Boxer' Moran | Independent | Athlone | New |
| Frankie Keena | Fianna Fáil | Athlone | Re-elected |
| John Dolan | Fine Gael | Athlone | Re-elected |
| Aengus O'Rourke | Fianna Fáil | Athlone | Re-elected |
| Paul Hogan | Independent Ireland | Athlone | Re-elected |
| Denis Leonard | Labour Party | Kinnegad | Re-elected |
| Alfie Devine | Fianna Fáil | Kinnegad | New |
| David Jones | Sinn Féin | Kinnegad | New |
| Niall Gaffney | Fianna Fáil | Kinnegad | New |
| Emily Wallace | Fine Gael | Kinnegad | Re-elected |
| Tom Farrell | Fine Gael | Moate | Re-elected |
| Vinny McCormack | Fianna Fáil | Moate | Re-elected |
| Liam McDaniel | Fianna Fáil | Moate | Re-elected |
| Johnnie Penrose | Labour Party | Moate | Re-elected |
| Mick Dollard | Independent | Mullingar | Re-elected |
| Ken Glynn | Fianna Fáil | Mullingar | Re-elected |
| Aoife Davitt | Fianna Fáil | Mullingar | Re-elected |
| Andrew Duncan | Fine Gael | Mullingar | Re-elected |
| Bill Collentine | Fianna Fáil | Mullingar | Re-elected |
| Julie McCourt | Sinn Féin | Mullingar | New |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Moate, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,825. Elected candidates are in bold.
Each party’s share of first preferences in Moate
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
9,193 of 16,297 registered voters turned out, 56.4%: the 36th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). The quota was 1,825: 9,121 valid votes for 4 seats, counted over 5 rounds. Tom Farrell (Fine Gael) reached the quota on first preferences alone, and transfers decided the other 3.
Every candidate, count by count (5 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnnie Penrose | Labour Party | 1,441 | Elected at count 5, on the quota | 1,851 |
| Liam McDaniel | Fianna Fáil | 1,480 | Elected at count 5, on the quota | 1,826 |
| Vinny McCormack | Fianna Fáil | 1,630 | Elected at count 4, on the quota | 1,833 |
| Tom Farrell | Fine Gael | 2,185 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,825 |
| Shane Lynam | Irish Freedom Party | 270 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| John Lawlor | Sinn Féin | 416 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Paul Hogan | Independent Ireland | 674 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Michael O'Brien | Independent | 1,025 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,465 |
How Ballinalack voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Westmeath 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.
48 candidates stood for 20 seats on Westmeath County Council in June 2024, 2.4 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 50.4%, the 20th-highest of 31 councils. Fianna Fáil elected 9 of its 10 candidates. 16 of the 48 candidates were women (33%; 31% across the country), and 6 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.
Ballinalack is in Longford-Westmeath
5 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Independent · Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation
oireachtas.ie ↗Fine Gael
oireachtas.ie ↗Fine Gael · Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
oireachtas.ie ↗Fianna Fáil · Minister of State at the Department of Finance
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 Longford-Westmeath, November 2024
First-preference share by party in Longford-Westmeath
Turnout was 58.4%, 62,353 of 106,814 registered voters: the 30th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). With 61,884 valid votes and 5 seats the quota was 10,315; the count ran to 15 rounds. Peter Burke (Fine Gael) passed the quota on first preferences; transfers filled the other 4. Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) took the last seat with 9,208 votes at the final count, 2,645 more than Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fáil), on 6,563.
Every candidate, count by count (15 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micheál Carrigy | Fine Gael | 7,090 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 9,208 |
| Robert Troy | Fianna Fáil | 8,116 | Elected at count 15, on the quota | 10,331 |
| Kevin Boxer Moran | Independent | 8,056 | Elected at count 14, on the quota | 10,450 |
| Sorca Clarke | Sinn Féin | 6,998 | Elected at count 13, on the quota | 10,315 |
| Peter Burke | Fine Gael | 10,864 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 10,315 |
| Paul Bradley | Independent | 115 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Charlotte Keenan | Independent | 66 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Donal Jackson | Independent | 48 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Carol Okeke | Green Party | 464 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Dympna Cunniffe | Fianna Fáil | 528 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Tanya Cannon | Fine Gael | 507 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Margaret Alacoque Maguire | Ireland First | 864 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Dave Smyth | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 960 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Louise Heavin | Independent | 915 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Fidelma Bennett | Labour Party | 1,574 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Laura O'Neill | Aontú | 1,926 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Gerry Warnock | Independent | 2,262 | Excluded at count 12 | – |
| Barry Campion | Sinn Féin | 2,344 | Excluded at count 13 | – |
| Paul Hogan | Independent Ireland | 2,956 | Excluded at count 15 | – |
| Joe Flaherty | Fianna Fáil | 5,231 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 6,563 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
€1,343 per resident: Westmeath 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 14th-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 €117.2M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 16% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2134, the 14th-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 | €38.1M | €396 | €33.6M | 13% |
| Roads and transport | €29.2M | €304 | €26.5M | 10% |
| Water services | €3M | €31 | €3.9M | -22% |
| Planning and development | €18.4M | €191 | €17M | 8% |
| Environment and fire | €13M | €135 | €12.2M | 7% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €15.2M | €158 | €13.4M | 13% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €507K | €5 | €465K | 9% |
| Other services | €11.9M | €124 | €10.1M | 18% |
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 Westmeath County Council’s 20 councillors speaks for about 4,810 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Westmeath County Council has 20 councillors for 96,221 residents: about 4,810 each, the 15th-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 Ballinalack 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.
westmeathcoco.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
westmeathcoco.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 Ballinalack is run
Which council runs Ballinalack?
Ballinalack is run by Westmeath County Council, its only council: Ireland has one tier of local government.
How many councillors does Ballinalack have?
The Moate local electoral area elects 4 councillors: Tom Farrell (Fine Gael), Vinny McCormack (Fianna Fáil), Liam McDaniel (Fianna Fáil), Johnnie Penrose (Labour Party).
Which party has the most seats on Westmeath County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Fianna Fáil 9 · Fine Gael 4 · Independent 2 · Labour Party 2 · Sinn Féin 2 · Independent Ireland 1 of 20 seats; a majority needs 11.
Who are Ballinalack’s TDs?
Longford-Westmeath elects 5 TDs: Kevin Boxer Moran (Independent), Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael), Peter Burke (Fine Gael), Robert Troy (Fianna Fáil) and Sorca Clarke (Sinn Féin).
What was the turnout in Ballinalack?
In Moate, 56.4% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Longford-Westmeath, 58.4% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Ballinalack?
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 Westmeath County spend?
Westmeath 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).