1979 Kerry County Council election

1979 Kerry County Council election

7 June 1979
All 26 seats on Kerry County Council
First party Second party Third party   Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Seats won 14 7 2   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Sinn Féin Independent Seats won 1 2
Map showing the area of Kerry County Council
Council control after election Fianna Fáil

An election to all 26 seats on Kerry County Council took place on 7 June 1979 as part of that year's Irish local elections. Councillors were elected from 4 local electoral areas (LEAs) on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	1st pref	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	14		27,371	44.70
	Fine Gael	7		17,175	28.05
	Labour	2		7,647	12.49
	Sinn Féin	1		3,152	5.15
	Sinn Féin The Workers' Party	0		1,159	1.89
	Independent	2		4,732	7.73
Totals		26		61,236	100.00

Results by local electoral area

Killarney

Killarney: 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Sen. Michael Moynihan	19.51%	2,737
	Fianna Fáil	Jackie Healy-Rae	16.35%	2,294
	Fianna Fáil	Tom Fleming	14.48%	2,032
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick J. Cronin	11.22%	1,574	1,644	1,806	1,832	1,861	1,877	1,946
	Fine Gael	Paudie Connor	8.27%	1,161	1,308	1,329	1,355	1,567	1,568	1,883
	Sinn Féin The Workers' Party	Redmond Sullivan	8.26%	1,159	1,324	1,362	1,412	1,543	1,545	1,651
	Fine Gael	Thomas Dennehy	7.74%	1,086	1,130	1,139	1,203	1,383	1,389
	Fine Gael	Christopher McSweeney	7.11%	998	1,101	1,120	1,184	1,401	1,403	2,068
	Fine Gael	Tom Randles	5.37%	753	841	879	895
	Labour	Joan Winter	1.69%	237	352	354
Electorate: 18,656   Valid: 14,031 (75.21%)   Spoilt: 213 (1.14%)   Quota: 2,005   Turnout: 14,244 (76.35%)

Killorglin

Killorglin: 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fianna Fáil	Mary O'Donoghue	15.07%	1,811
	Fine Gael	Michael Connor-Scarteen	14.23%	1,710	1,711	1,730
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Cahill	11.71%	1,408	1,415	1,482	1,586	1,633	1,829
	Fine Gael	Danny Kissane	9.89%	1,189	1,189	1,267	1,502	1,529	1,552
	Fianna Fáil	Ted O'Connor	9.49%	1,141	1,160	1,196	1,231	1,272	1,626
	Fine Gael	Dan Barry	9.38%	1,127	1,146	1,160	1,220	1,334	1,355
	Independent	Michael O'Connell	9.14%	1,098	1,119	1,196	1,266	1,472	1,604
	Fianna Fáil	John Joe Brien	8.45%	1,016	1,030	1,035	1,038	1,069
	Sinn Féin	Tim Garvey	4.80%	577	588	612	633
	Fine Gael	Teresa Murphy	4.29%	516	516	583
	Labour	Sean Moriarty	3.54%	426	427
Electorate: 16,620   Valid: 12,019 (72.32%)   Spoilt: 215 (1.76%)   Quota: 1,718   Turnout: 12,234 (73.61%)

Listowel

Listowel: 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Fianna Fáil	Noel Brassil	11.53%	1,724	1,742	1,762	1,764	1,821	1,827	1,851	1,882	1,916	1,929
	Fianna Fáil	Kit Ahern TD	11.38%	1,701	1,704	1,793	1,823	1,836	1,920	1,948	2,040	2,286
	Fine Gael	Senator Gerard Lynch	10.77%	1,610	1,612	1,644	1,773	1,880	1,940	2,154
	Fianna Fáil	Dan Kiely	10.34%	1,546	1,547	1,574	1,583	1,589	1,706	1,815	1,874	1,982	2,015
	Sinn Féin	Robert Beasley	10.17%	1,521	1,523	1,539	1,555	1,564	1,604	1,660	1,842	1,979	1,993
	Labour	John Joe O'Sullivan	8.90%	1,331	1,343	1,351	1,357	1,483	1,493	1,541	1,612	1,770	1,787
	Fianna Fáil	Eamon Walsh	8.67%	1,296	1,298	1,362	1,378	1,378	1,469	1,487	1,605	1,794	1,859
	Independent	Jack Larkin	6.88%	1,028	1,028	1,074	1,173	1,187	1,268	1,325	1,480
	Fine Gael	John Francis Ahern	4.93%	737	738	745	773	793	832	1,002
	Fine Gael	Jeremiah O'Connor	4.45%	666	667	671	707	772	805
	Independent	Thomas Sheehan	3.83%	573	573	591	598	599
	Fine Gael	Tom Lawlor	2.74%	410	423	425	435
	Fine Gael	Brendan Halloran	2.64%	395	396	407
	Fianna Fáil	Tony O'Callaghan	2.35%	351	352
	Independent	Tom Dineen	0.41%	61
Electorate: 19,867   Valid: 14,950 (75.25%)   Spoilt: 230 (1.52%)   Quota: 2,136   Turnout: 15,180 (76.41%)

Tralee

Tralee: 8 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fianna Fáil	Tom McEllistrim, Jnr TD	18.26%	3,695
	Fianna Fáil	Denis Foley	15.33%	3,103
	Labour	Dick Spring	14.41%	2,916
	Fine Gael	Michael Begley TD	11.07%	2,240	2,258
	Independent	James Courtney	9.75%	1,972	2,073	2,115	2,185	2,233	2,278
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Fitzgerald	7.52%	1,522	1,802	1,957	1,982	2,023	2,037	2,053
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Long	5.72%	1,157	1,715	1,973	2,026	2,058	2,286
	Fine Gael	John Blennerhassett	5.62%	1,138	1,340	1,514	1,729	2,204	2,719
	Sinn Féin	Michael Horgan	5.21%	1,054	1,184	1,286	1,387	1,447	1,492	1,532
	Fine Gael	Timothy Nelligan	4.01%	812	875	890	976	1,041
	Fine Gael	Frank Gleasure	3.10%	627	721	829	946
Electorate: 29,352   Valid: 20,236 (68.94%)   Spoilt: 289 (1.41%)   Quota: 2,249   Turnout: 20,525 (69.93%)

External links

• Department of the Environment (1980). Local elections, 1979 : election results and transfer of votes in respect of each county, and county borough council : and election statistics relating to all local authorities (PDF). Official publications. Vol. Prl.9322. Dublin: Stationery Office.
• https://irishelectionliterature.com/others-project/old-local-election-results/