Aftermath of boundary panel findings keenly felt across State

With some 2,000 candidates in 137 districts fighting for 949 seats on 31 county and city councils, more than half of the local election field is going to be left disappointed.

The Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee’s report reset the local election landscape by recommending that voters in each district should elect no less than six and no more than 10 councillors.

There are considerable disparities across the State but the average council has 30.6 seats on offer with the average electoral area having 6.9 openings that an average of 14.5 candidates are hoping to fill.

The smallest councils in the State will have 18 elected members – these are Carlow, Cavan, Galway City, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan, Roscommon and Sligo.

Less politicians
With the exception of Galway City, all of these had their numbers reduced as a result of the committee's findings.

The shortest menu of candidates will be presented to voters in the Co Cavan district of Ballyjamesduff, where there are eight candidates contesting six seats – four Fine Gael, three Fianna Fáil and one Sinn Féin.

The choice is slightly wider in the Co Kildare district of Athy, where the ballot paper features nine candidates – three from FG and two from Labour, Sinn Féin and FF.

In the six-seater of Ballinasloe, Tim Broderick is the sole non-party candidate among the nine seeking a seat on Galway County Council.

With 27 candidates contesting eight seats, the Clare County Council district of Ennis has the most runners in the State. There are 10 independents going forward in Ennis as well as five candidates from both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Voters in the Fingal electoral area of Swords will face the second-longest ballot paper, with 26 candidates in the running for nine seats. Half of those running are from the Independent ranks, compared to a national average of 28 per cent.

Dublin City Council, which has 11 more berths than in 2009, is the largest local authority with 63 seats serving a population that stood at 527,612 at the time of the 2011 Census.

Busy Ballymun
There are 151 candidates contesting the nine Dublin City Council districts.

Ballymun has the busiest ballot paper, with 20 runners from nine political parties joining six Independents in the race for seven seats.