Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0Wexford County Council runs on one of the smallest budgets per resident of any council
One council serves Ferns: Wexford County Council. Ireland has no town or district councils. The Enniscorthy local electoral area elected 6 councillors in June 2024: Fine Gael 2, Fianna Fáil 2 and Independent 2. No party holds a majority on Wexford County; Independent has the most seats, 11 of 34, short of the 18 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Wicklow-Wexford has 3 members: Fine Gael 1, Sinn Féin 1 and Fianna Fáil 1.
Ferns’s council and votes, in 2 figures
A lean budget for its size
Wexford County Council’s 2026 revenue budget comes to €1,118 for each resident, against €1,551 across all 31 councils, leaving out the HAP programme. Council money ↓
High turnout
38,537 of Wicklow-Wexford’s 63,003 registered voters turned out in November 2024, 61%: the 13th-highest 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 Wexford County Council
Seats on Wexford County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Independent1124 stood
- Fianna Fáil914 stood
- Fine Gael810 stood
- Sinn Féin311 stood
- Labour Party26 stood
- Aontú11 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 18 of the 34 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Independent is largest with 11. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fianna Fáil is second with 9 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
Ferns 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.
wexfordcoco.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 Ferns, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Enniscorthy local electoral areaEnniscorthy · 6 membersCathal ByrneAidan BrowneBarbara-Anne MurphyJohn O RourkeJackser OwensPat Kehoe
- 2Wexford County Council34 councillors from 6 local electoral areasIndependent 11 · Fianna Fáil 9 · Fine Gael 8 · Sinn Féin 3 · Labour Party 2 · Aontú 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannWicklow-Wexford · 3 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 Enniscorthy
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Cathal Byrne
- Aidan Browne
- Barbara-Anne Murphy
- John O Rourke
- Jackser Owens
- Pat Kehoe
Also stood (6): Colette Nolan (Sinn Féin), Cyril Wheelock (Independent), Majella Wall (Independent), Eamonn Doyle (Independent), Alfie Ó Súilleabháin (Sinn Féin), Brendan Cahill-Flynn (Green Party).
Ferns’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cathal Byrne | Fine Gael | Enniscorthy | 2,275 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Aidan Browne | Fianna Fáil | Enniscorthy | 1,617 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Barbara-Anne Murphy | Fianna Fáil | Enniscorthy | 1,340 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | Re-elected |
| John O Rourke | Independent | Enniscorthy | 1,162 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Jackser Owens | Independent | Enniscorthy | 1,141 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Pat Kehoe | Fine Gael | Enniscorthy | 937 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | New |
5 of the 6 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 1 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Wexford County Council’s 6 local electoral areas
Every area of Wexford County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enniscorthy | 6 | 12 | 22,900 | 49.8% | 1,608 |
| Gorey | 6 | 14 | 22,114 | 52.4% | 1,641 |
| Kilmuckridge | 4 | 6 | 14,699 | 51.5% | 1,498 |
| New Ross | 6 | 14 | 23,213 | 53.5% | 1,753 |
| Rosslare | 5 | 12 | 18,400 | 56.3% | 1,713 |
| Wexford | 7 | 14 | 23,333 | 49.3% | 1,425 |
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 34 seats on Wexford County Council
Everyone elected to Wexford 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | 11 | 1 | 6 | 32% |
| Fianna Fáil | 9 | 2 | 9 | 25.7% |
| Fine Gael | 8 | 1 | 5 | 18.4% |
| Sinn Féin | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11% |
| Labour Party | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6.9% |
| Aontú | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.8% |
6 of the 34 councillors are women, 18%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 24 sat on the council before the election and 10 are new to it.
Every member of Wexford County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cathal Byrne | Fine Gael | Enniscorthy | Re-elected |
| Aidan Browne | Fianna Fáil | Enniscorthy | Re-elected |
| Barbara-Anne Murphy | Fianna Fáil | Enniscorthy | Re-elected |
| John O Rourke | Independent | Enniscorthy | Re-elected |
| Jackser Owens | Independent | Enniscorthy | Re-elected |
| Pat Kehoe | Fine Gael | Enniscorthy | New |
| Donal Kenny | Fianna Fáil | Gorey | Re-elected |
| Nicky Boland | Independent | Gorey | New |
| Joe Sullivan | Fianna Fáil | Gorey | Re-elected |
| Anthony Donohoe | Fine Gael | Gorey | Re-elected |
| Darragh McDonald | Fine Gael | Gorey | New |
| Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin | Sinn Féin | Gorey | Re-elected |
| Mary Farrell | Independent | Kilmuckridge | Re-elected |
| Pip Breen | Fianna Fáil | Kilmuckridge | Re-elected |
| Oliver Walsh | Fine Gael | Kilmuckridge | Re-elected |
| Paddy Kavanagh | Independent | Kilmuckridge | New |
| Pat Barden | Independent | New Ross | Re-elected |
| John Fleming | Fianna Fáil | New Ross | Re-elected |
| Marty Murphy | Independent | New Ross | New |
| Michael Sheehan | Fianna Fáil | New Ross | Re-elected |
| Bridín Murphy | Fine Gael | New Ross | Re-elected |
| John Dwyer | Independent | New Ross | New |
| Jim Codd | Aontú | Rosslare | Re-elected |
| Ger Carthy | Independent | Rosslare | Re-elected |
| Frank Staples | Fine Gael | Rosslare | Re-elected |
| Lisa McDonald | Fianna Fáil | Rosslare | Re-elected |
| Aoife Rose O'Brien | Sinn Féin | Rosslare | New |
| George Lawlor | Labour Party | Wexford | Re-elected |
| Robbie Staples | Fine Gael | Wexford | New |
| Garry Laffan | Fianna Fáil | Wexford | Re-elected |
| Leonard Kelly | Independent | Wexford | Re-elected |
| Tom Forde | Sinn Féin | Wexford | Re-elected |
| Raymond Shannon | Independent | Wexford | New |
| Catherine Biddy Walsh | Labour Party | Wexford | New |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Enniscorthy, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,608. Elected candidates are in bold.
First-preference share by party in Enniscorthy
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
Turnout was 49.8%, 11,410 of 22,900 registered voters: the 90th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). With 11,253 valid votes and 6 seats the quota was 1,608; the count ran to 8 rounds. Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael) and Aidan Browne (Fianna Fáil) passed the quota on first preferences; transfers filled the other 4. Pat Kehoe (Fine Gael) took the last seat with 1,467 votes at the final count, 390 more than Colette Nolan (Sinn Féin), on 1,077.
Every candidate, count by count (8 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Kehoe | Fine Gael | 937 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,467 |
| John O Rourke | Independent | 1,162 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 1,703 |
| Barbara-Anne Murphy | Fianna Fáil | 1,340 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 1,694 |
| Jackser Owens | Independent | 1,141 | Elected at count 8, on the quota | 1,675 |
| Cathal Byrne | Fine Gael | 2,275 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,608 |
| Aidan Browne | Fianna Fáil | 1,617 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,608 |
| Alfie Ó Súilleabháin | Sinn Féin | 276 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Brendan Cahill-Flynn | Green Party | 259 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Eamonn Doyle | Independent | 296 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Majella Wall | Independent | 597 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Cyril Wheelock | Independent | 660 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Colette Nolan | Sinn Féin | 693 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,077 |
How Ferns voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Wexford 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.
72 candidates stood for 34 seats on Wexford County Council in June 2024, 2.1 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 52%, the 15th-highest of 31 councils. Independent elected 11 of its 24 candidates. 17 of the 72 candidates were women (24%; 31% across the country), and 24 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.
Ferns is in Wicklow-Wexford
3 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Fine Gael
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 Wicklow-Wexford, November 2024
First-preference share by party in Wicklow-Wexford
38,537 of 63,003 registered voters turned out, 61.2%: the 13th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). The quota was 9,560: 38,236 valid votes for 3 seats, counted over 6 rounds. Nobody reached the quota on first preferences, so every seat was filled on transfers. The last seat went to Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fáil) with 9,156 votes at the final count, 2,547 ahead of Pat Kennedy (Fianna Fáil), who had 6,609.
Every candidate, count by count (6 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malcolm Byrne | Fianna Fáil | 8,311 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 9,156 |
| Brian Brennan | Fine Gael | 8,820 | Elected at count 6, on the quota | 10,339 |
| Fionntán O Súilleabháin | Sinn Féin | 7,719 | Elected at count 6, on the quota | 10,222 |
| Frances Lawlor | Independent Ireland | 648 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Ilse-Maria Nolan | Independent | 168 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Ann Walsh | Green Party | 897 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Aislinn O'Keeffe | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 1,021 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Sinéad Boland | Aontú | 1,350 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Peir Leonard | Independent | 3,824 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Pat Kennedy | Fianna Fáil | 5,478 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 6,609 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
€1,118 per resident: Wexford 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 2nd-lowest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 5% on 2025, when it was €175.4M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 24% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2530, the 2nd-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 | €54.2M | €331 | €51.9M | 4% |
| Roads and transport | €43.2M | €264 | €40.4M | 7% |
| Water services | €10.9M | €67 | €11.9M | -8% |
| Planning and development | €22.7M | €138 | €20.6M | 10% |
| Environment and fire | €21.5M | €131 | €20.4M | 5% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €13.7M | €83 | €13.1M | 4% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €3.1M | €19 | €3.2M | -4% |
| Other services | €14.5M | €88 | €13.8M | 4% |
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).
Wexford County Council has 34 councillors, one for every 4,820 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Wexford County Council has 34 councillors for 163,919 residents: about 4,820 each, the 13th-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 Ferns 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.
wexfordcoco.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
wexfordcoco.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 Ferns is run
Which council runs Ferns?
Ferns is run by Wexford County Council, its only council: Ireland has one tier of local government.
How many councillors does Ferns have?
The Enniscorthy local electoral area elects 6 councillors: Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael), Aidan Browne (Fianna Fáil), Barbara-Anne Murphy (Fianna Fáil), John O Rourke (Independent), Jackser Owens (Independent), Pat Kehoe (Fine Gael).
Which party has the most seats on Wexford County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Independent 11 · Fianna Fáil 9 · Fine Gael 8 · Sinn Féin 3 · Labour Party 2 · Aontú 1 of 34 seats; a majority needs 18.
Who are Ferns’s TDs?
Wicklow-Wexford elects 3 TDs: Brian Brennan (Fine Gael), Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Sinn Féin) and Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fáil).
What was the turnout in Ferns?
In Enniscorthy, 49.8% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Wicklow-Wexford, 61.2% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Ferns?
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 Wexford County spend?
Wexford County Council plans to spend €183.7M 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).