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The recent co-option process to fill 52 county council seats vacated after the recent General Election has resulted in 21 women taking office. Despite this, the overall net gain in female councillors is just ten, leaving women's representation in local government at a mere 27%. Ireland remains ranked 87th out of 141 countries in the United Nations dataset on elected seats held by women in local government bodies. With the Seanad elections due to take place at the end of January, there is still however an opportunity to see more gains for female representation in our council chambers. The Seanad Returning Officer completes the panels of candidates today (January 8th) and it looks like 48 county councillors are set to contest the Seanad elections. This will also result in the need for further co-options to fill the vacated council seats of any who are successfully elected as senators.
Dr Michelle Maher, Programme Manager with See Her Elected, expressed her disappointment at the limited progress. "Women make up 50% of the population, yet they are far from achieving equal representation at decision-making tables. This is particularly stark in rural Ireland. Leadership at all levels is required to foster equity in political representation and ensure grassroots recruitment plans for women into political parties are more than mere lip service."
Of the 52 vacant council seats created by the general election, all bar one have now been filled. Among the political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael—the two largest in local government—showed limited success in addressing gender imbalance in terms of co-opting women into vacated county council seats after the recent General Election.
Fianna Fáil’s co-option processes resulted in a net gain of three female councillors. Fine Gael filled half of their 14 vacancies with women, gaining four additional female councillors. Sinn Féin, in contrast, saw a net loss of three female councillors, with several male candidates filling seats vacated by female Deputies.
Fianna Fáil had 12 council seats to fill of which 7 (58%) stayed with men. Deputy Aisling Dempsey’s seat on Meath County Council went to Cllr. Paul O’Rourke, while Cllrs Fiona Murray (DLR), Aoibheann Mahon (Dublin City) and Donna Phelan (Kildare) were co-opted into seats held by Deputies Shay Brennan, Tom Brabazon and Naoise Ó Cearúil. This gave Fianna Fail a net increase of 3 additional female county councillors.
Fine Gael had 14 council seats to fill. 7 (50%) of the seats stayed with men and Deputy Paula Butterly’s seat on Louth County Council went to narrowly defeated local election candidate Rachel Kerley. In DLR, Cllr Eoin O’Driscoll replaced Deputy Maeve O’Connell. 5 seats formerly held by male councillors were filled by Cllrs Kay Dawson (Cork County), Aileen Browne (Cork County), Clodagh Ní Mhuirí (Dublin City), Siobhán McHugh Ryan (Galway County) and Eleanor Clendennen (Offaly). This gave Fine Gael an additional 4 female councillors.
Sinn Fein saw a drop in their female representation following co-options to fill their 9 vacant council seats. Male councillors were co-opted into the council seats formerly held by Deputies Donna McGettigan (Clare), Máire Devine (Dublin City), Ann Graves (Fingal) and Shónagh NíRaghailaigh (Kildare). Sinn Fein’s net loss was 3 female seats with Deputy Conor McGuinness’s seat in Waterford going to Cllr. Kate O’Mahoney.
“It is disappointing that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil as the two largest parties in local government were unable to switch the gender status quo in any substantial way with half of their vacant seats staying as was. Parties point to the fact that their internal processes dictate how vacant seats are filled. Whether there were not enough women in the party to make a meaningful challenge or if there is an inherent bias due to the make-up on the voting membership in those parties is hard to say without being privy to internal party information.
“The co-option process also highlighted the persistent influence of familial connections in local politics. While these connections remain a common pathway, they have historically disproportionately favoured men. Perhaps we are seeing a change in the tide here. Of the newly co-opted councillors, both male and female relatives replaced incumbents, although Fianna Fáil stuck closely to the male relative model.
“Among the ranks of the newly co-opted councillors are two brothers, one father, one son, two sisters and one daughter of former councillors,” said Dr Maher.
Independent Ireland’s Deputy Ken O’Flynn is replaced by his father Noel O’Flynn on Cork City Council. Fianna Fáil have three male family members taking over council seats. In Kerry, Deputy Michael Cahill is being replaced by his son Cllr Tommy Cahill; Deputy Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere’s seat on Kilkenny County Council goes to his brother Brian and in Tipperary Deputy Ryan O’Meara’s seat goes to his brother JP. Fine Gael are bucking the male dynasty trend with Deputy John Clendennen’s seat on Offaly County Council going to his sister Cllr Eleanor Clendennen and Siobhan McHugh Ryan, the daughter of former Councillor Tom McHugh, being co-opted to Peter Roche’s seat in Galway. In County Mayo, Deirdre Lawless of Aontú will replace her brother Deputy Paul Lawless on Mayo County Council.
Dr Maher emphasised the importance of systemic changes in candidate development. "Politics is a long game, and so is candidate development. Party leaders need to take active steps to include women from diverse backgrounds in their grassroots membership and to build long-term pathways to leadership positions."
Research by See Her Elected has shown that incumbency offers a substantial electoral advantage. In the recent local elections, 85% (684) of incumbent candidates were re-elected, securing 72% of council seats. This advantage held true for both male and female incumbents. This success rate was consistent across genders, with 86% of female incumbents and 88% of male incumbents being re-elected while 68% of co-opted councillors in 2024 securing election compared to only 19% of new candidates. This underscores the urgency of addressing the structural barriers limiting women's representation at both local and national levels.
Please find a link to access a the full list of County Councillors who are set to contest the Seanad Elections here:
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