Voters have until 5pm on Tuesday May 7th to get on the electoral register in time to vote in the May 24th local and European elections and in the referendum on divorce.
Voters in Cork, Limerick and Waterford will also have the opportunity to cast their ballot in a plebiscite on whether they agree with the principle of directly elected mayors for their cities.
Almost 2,000 candidates – final numbers including Independent candidates will be formally confirmed on Tuesday – are expected to contest for 949 seats in 31 city and county councils.
Fine Gael will run 405 candidates compared to 415 by Fianna Fáil, with 228 Sinn Féin candidates and 111 Labour candidates.
The Greens will have 82 candidates while 67 Solidarity People Before Profit candidates will compete, as will 58 Social Democrat candidates.
The new Aontú party is entering 55 candidates while Renua has 27 candidates and the Workers’ Party has selected seven to run.
To ensure a voter is on the electoral register they should visit the website checktheregister.ie
Irish citizen
Every resident in Ireland, whether an Irish citizen or not is entitled to vote in the local elections if they are registered.
Under the law resident non-EU citizens can only vote in local elections. Citizens of other EU countries resident in Ireland except Britons, can vote in local and European elections.
British citizens are entitled to vote in local, European and Dáil elections but are not entitled to a vote in referendums.
People entitled to vote but not registered can be included in the supplementary register by downloading the application from their local authority on checktheregister.ie
Dublin voters
Voters can register up to 14 days before an election, excluding Sundays and bank holidays, when completed forms must be received by the local authority.
Applicants are required to have their form signed by a Garda from their local station to confirm their identity.
First-time voters, or those who find they have slipped off the electoral register, can sign up to vote without visiting a Garda station, but only if they live in Dublin.
Voter.ie is a new service from four Dublin local authorities which allows Dubliners to add their names to the Register of Electors, change their address on the register, and amend other details, including citizenship or name.
The service will only be available to those who have signed up to the Department of Social Protection's digital identity service mygovid.ie. People who have a public services card will already have access to the site.
Am I registered to vote?
Go to checktheregister.ie and enter your province and council. You may need to try different variations of your name and area.
If you are not registered to vote, you need to fill out the application form RFA2.
If you're address has changed, but this isn't showing up on the register you will need to complete a RFA3 form and this form needs to be returned to your local authority.
People who have became an Irish citizen and are already registered will need to fill out a RFA5 Application Form.
