1985 Irish local elections

← 1979 20 June 1985 1991 →

First party Second party Third party   Leader Charles Haughey Garret FitzGerald Dick Spring Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Leader since 7 December 1979 1 July 1977 1 November 1982 Seats won 441 287 60 Seat change 113 5 15 Popular vote 648,070 422,045 109,681 Percentage 45.6 29.7 4.2% Swing 6.5 5.4%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   IFF Leader Tomás Mac Giolla Gerry Adams Neil Blaney Party Workers' Party Sinn Féin Independent Fianna Fáil Leader since 14 October 1962 13 November 1983 1972 Last election N/A Seats won 20 10 6 Seat change 13 10 2 Popular vote 43,006 46,391 11073 Percentage 3.0% 3.3% 0.8 Swing 0.3% 1.7% 0.8%   Seventh party   DSP Leader Jim Kemmy Party Democratic Socialist Party Leader since 1972 Seats won 3 Seat change 3 Popular vote 5,472 Percentage 0.4 Swing 0.4% (New)

The 1985 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Thursday, 20 June 1985.

Ireland was divided into local government areas of administrative counties and county boroughs, with a second tier in certain areas of boroughs, urban districts and towns with boards of commissioners. The elections were postponed from June 1984.^[1] This allowed the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985 to be enacted beforehand. Each local government area was divided into local electoral areas (LEAs) to be elected on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Administrative changes

Under the Local Government (Reorganisation) Act 1985, the borough of Galway ceased to be part of County Galway and became a county borough with its own city council. County Dublin was divided into three electoral counties: Dublin—Belgard, Dublin—Fingal and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. No separate election was to be held for the borough council of the corporation of Dún Laoghaire, with members elected for designated LEAs in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown to also be the members for the borough council.

Results

County, city and town council seats

Party		Seats	±	First pref. votes	% FPV[2][3]	±%
	Fianna Fáil	441	113	648,070	45.6	+6.5
	Fine Gael	287	5	422,045	29.7	-5.4
	Labour	60	15	109,681	7.9	-4.2
	Workers' Party	20	13	43,006	3.0	+0.8
	Sinn Féin	10	0	46,391	3.3
	Independent Fianna Fáil	6	2	11073	0.8
	Democratic Socialist	3	New	5,472	0.4	New
	Waterford People's Party[a]	1	New	1,681	0.1	New
	Green	0	New	7,446	0.5	New
	Communist Party	0		593	0.0
	Independent			137,109	9.6	-2.1
Total				1,421,494	100	—

County and City Councils

County councils

City councils

Town councils