Photo: Sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0Turnout in Wicklow was among the highest at the 2024 general election
Donard is run by Wicklow County Council, its only council: Ireland has one tier of local government. The Baltinglass local electoral area elected 6 councillors in June 2024: Fine Gael 3, Independent 2 and Fianna Fáil 1. No party holds a majority on Wicklow County; Independent has the most seats, 10 of 32, short of the 17 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Wicklow has 4 members: Fine Gael 2, Social Democrats 1 and Sinn Féin 1.
Donard’s council and votes, in 4 figures
High turnout
57,411 of Wicklow’s 84,669 registered voters turned out in November 2024, 68%: the 1st-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 60%). Dáil Éireann ↓
A lean budget for its size
Wicklow County Council’s 2026 revenue budget comes to €1,177 for each resident, against €1,551 across all 31 councils, leaving out the HAP programme. Council money ↓
High turnout
11,269 of Baltinglass’s 20,661 registered voters turned out in June 2024, 55%: the 49th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49%). How Donard voted ↓
No majority on Wicklow County
Independent won the most seats on Wicklow County Council in June 2024, 10 of 32, short of the 17 a majority needs; it ran 20 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 ↓
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 Wicklow County Council
Seats on Wicklow County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Independent1020 stood
- Fine Gael911 stood
- Fianna Fáil410 stood
- Social Democrats35 stood
- Sinn Féin211 stood
- Green Party24 stood
- Labour Party14 stood
- Independent Ireland12 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 17 of the 32 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Independent is largest with 10. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Fine Gael 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
Donard 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.
wicklow.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 Donard, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Baltinglass local electoral areaBaltinglass · 6 membersGerry O'NeillEdward TimminsPeter StapletonAvril CroninPatsy GlennonJason Mulhall
- 2Wicklow County Council32 councillors from 6 local electoral areasIndependent 10 · Fine Gael 9 · Fianna Fáil 4 · Social Democrats 3 · Sinn Féin 2 · Green Party 2 · Labour Party 1 · Independent Ireland 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannWicklow · 4 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 Baltinglass
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Gerry O'Neill
- Edward Timmins
- Peter Stapleton
- Avril Cronin
- Patsy Glennon
- Jason Mulhall
Also stood (7): John Mullen (Fianna Fáil), Deirdre McCormack (Social Democrats), Kieran Burke (Fianna Fáil), Aidan Kinsella (Sinn Féin), Connor Byrne (Sinn Féin), ANThony McNulty (People Before Profit–Solidarity), Dominic PlANT (Independent).
Donard’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerry O'Neill | Independent | Baltinglass | 2,013 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Edward Timmins | Fine Gael | Baltinglass | 1,586 | Elected at count 2, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Peter Stapleton | Fine Gael | Baltinglass | 1,373 | Elected at count 9, on the quota | New |
| Avril Cronin | Fine Gael | Baltinglass | 1,122 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Patsy Glennon | Fianna Fáil | Baltinglass | 790 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Jason Mulhall | Independent | Baltinglass | 722 | 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 Wicklow County Council’s 6 local electoral areas
Every area of Wicklow County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltinglass | 6 | 13 | 20,661 | 54.5% | 1,594 |
| Arklow | 6 | 12 | 19,259 | 54.1% | 1,467 |
| Bray East | 4 | 12 | 12,273 | 53.4% | 1,299 |
| Bray West | 4 | 10 | 13,461 | 53.2% | 1,424 |
| Greystones | 6 | 14 | 21,035 | 54.6% | 1,626 |
| Wicklow | 6 | 13 | 23,378 | 53.1% | 1,758 |
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.
Of the 32 councillors on Wicklow County Council, women hold 10
Everyone elected to Wicklow 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 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 30.5% |
| Fine Gael | 9 | 4 | 5 | 21.3% |
| Fianna Fáil | 4 | 0 | 4 | 18.1% |
| Social Democrats | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7.7% |
| Green Party | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4.6% |
| Sinn Féin | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8.7% |
| Independent Ireland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.4% |
| Labour Party | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.7% |
10 of the 32 councillors are women, 31%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 20 sat on the council before the election and 12 are new to it.
Every member of Wicklow County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Kennedy | Fianna Fáil | Arklow | Re-elected |
| Peir Leonard | Independent | Arklow | Re-elected |
| Pat Fitzgerald | Fianna Fáil | Arklow | Re-elected |
| Slyvester Bourke | Fine Gael | Arklow | Re-elected |
| Warren O'Toole | Sinn Féin | Arklow | New |
| Miriam Murphy | Independent | Arklow | Re-elected |
| Gerry O'Neill | Independent | Baltinglass | Re-elected |
| Edward Timmins | Fine Gael | Baltinglass | Re-elected |
| Peter Stapleton | Fine Gael | Baltinglass | New |
| Avril Cronin | Fine Gael | Baltinglass | Re-elected |
| Patsy Glennon | Fianna Fáil | Baltinglass | Re-elected |
| Jason Mulhall | Independent | Baltinglass | New |
| Aoife Flynn Kennedy | Fine Gael | Bray East | Re-elected |
| Erika Doyle | Green Party | Bray East | Re-elected |
| Ian Neary | Independent Ireland | Bray East | New |
| Malachaí Duddy | Independent | Bray East | New |
| Joe Behan | Independent | Bray West | Re-elected |
| Melanie Corrigan | Fine Gael | Bray West | Re-elected |
| Dermot 'Daisy' O'Brien | Sinn Féin | Bray West | Re-elected |
| Caroline Winstanley | Social Democrats | Bray West | New |
| Stephen Stokes | Independent | Greystones | Re-elected |
| Tom Fortune | Independent | Greystones | Re-elected |
| Louise Fenelon Gaskin | Fine Gael | Greystones | New |
| Orla Finn | Independent | Greystones | New |
| Mark Barry | Social Democrats | Greystones | New |
| Lourda Scott | Green Party | Greystones | Re-elected |
| John Snell | Independent | Wicklow | Re-elected |
| Danny Alvey | Social Democrats | Wicklow | New |
| Shane Langrell | Fine Gael | Wicklow | New |
| Gail Dunne | Fianna Fáil | Wicklow | Re-elected |
| Paul O'Brien | Labour Party | Wicklow | Re-elected |
| Graham Richmond | Fine Gael | Wicklow | New |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Baltinglass, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,594. Elected candidates are in bold.
Each party’s share of first preferences in Baltinglass
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
11,269 of 20,661 registered voters turned out, 54.5%: the 49th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). With 11,154 valid votes and 6 seats the quota was 1,594; the count ran to 10 rounds. Gerry O'Neill (Independent) passed the quota on first preferences; transfers filled the other 5. Jason Mulhall (Independent) was 8th on first preferences and elected on transfers, ahead of John Mullen (Fianna Fáil), 5th on first preferences. Jason Mulhall (Independent) took the last seat with 1,322 votes at the final count, 123 more than Deirdre McCormack (Social Democrats), on 1,199.
Every candidate, count by count (10 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avril Cronin | Fine Gael | 1,122 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,543 |
| Patsy Glennon | Fianna Fáil | 790 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,418 |
| Jason Mulhall | Independent | 722 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,322 |
| Peter Stapleton | Fine Gael | 1,373 | Elected at count 9, on the quota | 1,594 |
| Edward Timmins | Fine Gael | 1,586 | Elected at count 2, on the quota | 1,594 |
| Gerry O'Neill | Independent | 2,013 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 1,594 |
| Dominic PlANT | Independent | 48 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| ANThony McNulty | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 255 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Connor Byrne | Sinn Féin | 288 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Kieran Burke | Fianna Fáil | 655 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Aidan Kinsella | Sinn Féin | 620 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| John Mullen | Fianna Fáil | 901 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Deirdre McCormack | Social Democrats | 781 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,199 |
How Donard voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Wicklow 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.
74 candidates stood for 32 seats on Wicklow County Council in June 2024, 2.3 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 53.9%, the 12th-highest of 31 councils. Independent elected 10 of its 20 candidates. 25 of the 74 candidates were women (34%; 31% across the country), and 20 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.
Donard is in Wicklow
4 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Fine Gael
oireachtas.ie ↗Social Democrats
oireachtas.ie ↗Sinn Féin
oireachtas.ie ↗Fine Gael · Minister for Finance
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, November 2024
First-preference share by party in Wicklow
57,411 of 84,669 registered voters turned out, 67.8%: the 1st-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). The quota was 11,415: 57,071 valid votes for 4 seats, counted over 13 rounds. Simon Harris (Fine Gael) passed the quota on first preferences; transfers filled the other 3. Edward Timmins (Fine Gael) was 6th on first preferences and elected on transfers, ahead of Stephen Donnelly (Fianna Fáil), 4th on first preferences. Edward Timmins (Fine Gael) took the last seat with 9,110 votes at the final count, 1,563 more than Stephen Donnelly (Fianna Fáil), on 7,547.
Every candidate, count by count (13 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Timmins | Fine Gael | 3,050 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 9,110 |
| John Brady | Sinn Féin | 8,450 | Elected at count 11, on the quota | 11,415 |
| Jennifer Whitmore | Social Democrats | 7,699 | Elected at count 9, on the quota | 11,415 |
| Simon Harris | Fine Gael | 16,869 | Elected at count 1, on the quota | 11,415 |
| Philip Dwyer | Independent | 435 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Michaela Keddy | The Irish People | 242 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Charlie Keddy | Independent | 141 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Dominic Plant | Independent | 21 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Sean O'Leary | Independent | 9 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Kellie McConnell | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 1,259 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Ciaran Hogan | Aontú | 1,267 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Gerry O'Neill | Independent | 1,963 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Paul O'Brien | Labour Party | 2,009 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Rob Carry | Independent | 1,597 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Steven Matthews | Green Party | 2,366 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Joe Behan | Independent | 2,909 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Shay Cullen | Independent | 3,232 | Excluded at count 13 | – |
| Stephen Donnelly | Fianna Fáil | 3,553 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 7,547 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
€1,177 per resident: Wicklow 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 6th-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 €168.1M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 19% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2240, the 6th-lowest of the 31 councils that rate on revalued property. The Local Property Tax brings in another 12%.
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 | €68.8M | €441 | €61.8M | 11% |
| Roads and transport | €33.1M | €213 | €31.1M | 7% |
| Water services | €6.3M | €40 | €6.5M | -3% |
| Planning and development | €24.4M | €157 | €20.6M | 18% |
| Environment and fire | €23.5M | €151 | €20.4M | 15% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €13.7M | €88 | €13M | 6% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €2.4M | €15 | €2.7M | -12% |
| Other services | €12.1M | €77 | €12M | 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).
Wicklow County Council has 32 councillors, one for every 4,870 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Wicklow County Council has 32 councillors for 155,851 residents: about 4,870 each, the 11th-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 Donard 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.
wicklow.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
wicklow.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 Donard is run
Which council runs Donard?
The one council for Donard is Wicklow County Council: Ireland has a single tier of local government.
How many councillors does Donard have?
The Baltinglass local electoral area elects 6 councillors: Gerry O'Neill (Independent), Edward Timmins (Fine Gael), Peter Stapleton (Fine Gael), Avril Cronin (Fine Gael), Patsy Glennon (Fianna Fáil), Jason Mulhall (Independent).
Which party has the most seats on Wicklow County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Independent 10 · Fine Gael 9 · Fianna Fáil 4 · Social Democrats 3 · Sinn Féin 2 · Green Party 2 · Labour Party 1 · Independent Ireland 1 of 32 seats; a majority needs 17.
Who are Donard’s TDs?
Wicklow elects 4 TDs: Edward Timmins (Fine Gael), Jennifer Whitmore (Social Democrats), John Brady (Sinn Féin) and Simon Harris (Fine Gael).
What was the turnout in Donard?
In Baltinglass, 54.5% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Wicklow, 67.8% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Donard?
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 Wicklow County spend?
Wicklow County Council plans to spend €184.3M 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).