Local Elections 2014

aodh_rua

A thread on Newbridge Town Hall has become slightly side-tracked by a discussion on the change in electoral boundaries. I thought I'd start this thread so the discussion over there could stay on topic.

In the current Council, Kildare is divided into 5 Local Electoral Areas: Celbridge (6 seats), Clane (4 seats), Naas (5 seats), Kildare (6 seats) and Athy (4 seats). In 2014, the Local Electoral Areas are being replaced by municipal districts, and these will sit as more powerful area committees with increased powers, however members will still be elected as county councillors and sit on KCC.

The town councils are being abolished, and in most counties the number of councillors is dropping. As Kildare is below the national target of 1 councillor per 4000 people, we are actually increasing from 25 to 40 members.

The new electoral areas are based on the existing LEAs, as follows:

Maynooth (taking in the old Clane area and Maynooth) - 9 seats
Celbridge-Leixlip (old Celbridge area minus Maynooth) - 7 seats
Naas (old Naas area with the inclusion of Ballymore Eustace and Kilcullen) - 9 seats
Newbridge-Kildare (old Kildare area minus Monastervin\including Roberstown) - 9 seats
Athy (old Athy area less Ballymore\Kilcullen with the inclusion of M'evin) - 6 seats

At the moment the six area councillors in Kildare are:

FG: Spike Nolan and Tony O'Donnell (me)
FF: Suzanne Doyle and Fiona O'Loughlin
IND: Paddy Kennedy
LAB: Francis Browne

So far I'm the only one who has declared that I will not be running again.

I don't know what people's intentions are in the other LEAs.

Orion

From a Maynooth perspective the setup in the Celbridge LEA is currently:
John McGinley (Lab)
Kevin Byrne (Lab)
Senan Griffin (FG)
Anthony Larkin (Ind)
Frank O'Rourke (FF)
Colm Purcell (Lab)

Of these only two (John and Senan) are based in Maynooth. The others are Celbridge or Leixlip so I assume they'll stay in that LEA. I'd assume that John is running again - don't know about Senan.

Clane already has 4 so with John and Senan that leaves 3 more seats to be contested. There will most likely be another FF candidate who hasn't declared yet and there's another person who may run as an independent - both of these are Maynooth based. If both run it will make for an interesting election in the Maynooth area.

fitz

How does Celbridge/Leixlip get less seats than Maynooth and Naas?
Celbridge alone is over a third bigger in population terms than Maynooth, and pretty much on par with Naas.
Is it any wonder our roads and services are a shambles...

aodh_rua

fitz wrote: »

How does Celbridge/Leixlip get less seats than Maynooth and Naas?
Celbridge alone is over a third bigger in population terms than Maynooth, and pretty much on par with Naas.
Is it any wonder our roads and services are a shambles...

The number of seats is in line with the populations of the areas (which include more than the named towns).

Athy 6 seats: 30,684
Celbridge - Leixlip 7 seats: 36,630
Maynooth 9 seats: 46,037
Kildare - Newbridge 9 seats: 49,944
Naas 9 seats: 47,017

The full report with maps is here.

L1011

fitz wrote: »

How does Celbridge/Leixlip get less seats than Maynooth and Naas?
Celbridge alone is over a third bigger in population terms than Maynooth, and pretty much on par with Naas.
Is it any wonder our roads and services are a shambles...

"Maynooth" is basically everywhere from Maynooth to the edge of the county. It has Clane, Kilcock, Carbury and a huge amount of countryside.

I suspect keeping the existing Celbridge LEA would have required more seats than allowable for one area.

Joe Public

aodh_rua wrote: »

The town councils are being abolished, and in most counties the number of councillors is dropping. As Kildare is below the national target of 1 councillor per 4000 people, we are actually increasing from 25 to 40 members.

Is one councillor per 4,000 an old target?

If one per 4,000 were applied now then Kildare should have 52 councillors.


Since posting I checked the report and see there is a max of 40 councillors per council except for Dublin & Cork.

aodh_rua

Joe Public wrote: »

Is one councillor per 4,000 an old target?

If one per 4,000 were applied now then Kildare should have 52 councillors.


Since posting I checked the report and see there is a max of 40 councillors per council except for Dublin & Cork.

Yup - well spotted, Kildare will still fall short of the average because the max has been fixed at 40 members.

Magilla Gorilla

Believe me, 40 is more than enough. :rolleyes:

NEDDURC

aodh_rua wrote: »

A thread on Newbridge Town Hall has become slightly side-tracked by a discussion on the change in electoral boundaries. I thought I'd start this thread so the discussion over there could stay on topic.

In the current Council, Kildare is divided into 5 Local Electoral Areas: Celbridge (7 seats), Clane (4 seats), Naas (5 seats), Kildare (6 seats) and Athy (3 seats). In 2014, the Local Electoral Areas are being replaced by municipal districts, and these will sit as more powerful area committees with increased powers, however members will still be elected as county councillors and sit on KCC.

The town councils are being abolished, and in most counties the number of councillors is dropping. As Kildare is below the national target of 1 councillor per 4000 people, we are actually increasing from 25 to 40 members.

The new electoral areas are based on the existing LEAs, as follows:

Maynooth (taking in the old Clane area and Maynooth) - 9 seats
Celbridge-Leixlip (old Celbridge area minus Maynooth) - 7 seats
Naas (old Naas area with the inclusion of Ballymore Eustace and Kilcullen) - 9 seats
Newbridge-Kildare (old Kildare area minus Monastervin\including Roberstown) - 9 seats
Athy (old Athy area less Ballymore\Kilcullen with the inclusion of M'evin) - 6 seats

At the moment the six area councillors in Kildare are:

FG: Spike Nolan and Tony O'Donnell (me)
FF: Suzanne Doyle and Fiona O'Loughlin
IND: Paddy Kennedy
LAB: Francis Browne

So far I'm the only one who has declared that I will not be running again.

I don't know what people's intentions are in the other LEAs.

Thanks for the information. Could you provide details of the current Athy councillors? I live in Monasterevin and am wondering how exactly it will be affected and who will be representing the town in the future.

aodh_rua

NEDDURC wrote: »

Thanks for the information. Could you provide details of the current Athy councillors? I live in Monasterevin and am wondering how exactly it will be affected and who will be representing the town in the future.

The four members of the Athy Electoral Area are:

FG: Cllr Richard Daly, Cllr Ivan Keatley
LAB: Cllr Mark Wall
FF: Cllr Martin Miley

Monasterevin should be able to elect it's own councillor next time out as the quota will drop.

NEDDURC

aodh_rua wrote: »

The four members of the Athy Electoral Area are:

FG: Cllr Richard Daly, Cllr Ivan Keatley
LAB: Cllr Mark Wall
FF: Cllr Martin Miley

Monasterevin should be able to elect it's own councillor next time out as the quota will drop.

Thanks again for the information. I don't know much about local councillors. Can you explain what you mean by the quota dropping?

Do you know if anyone from Monasterevin ran in the last elections? Do FG have any candidates from Monasterevin? From above Cllr Keatley seems to be based in Kilcullen and Cllr Daly in Athy.

aodh_rua

NEDDURC wrote: »

Thanks again for the information. I don't know much about local councillors. Can you explain what you mean by the quota dropping?

Do you know if anyone from Monasterevin ran in the last elections? Do FG have any candidates from Monasterevin? From above Cllr Keatley seems to be based in Kilcullen and Cllr Daly in Athy.

John Hardt ran for the Green Party last time, and he lives in Monasterevin.

The challenge the town has had in recent years is that a local candidate didn't get enough first preferences to get elected because the quota has been around 2,200 votes. They also failed to pick up transfers from outside, and as a result didn't get elected.

If the quota drops as expected due to the increased number of seats per head of population, M'evin and its hinterland should generate enough votes to get someone over the line.

None of the parties have held selection conventions, but I am sure they would all like to secure a strong Monasterevin candidate.

Joolymc

When are the next local elections for Kildare?

aodh_rua

Joolymc wrote: »

When are the next local elections for Kildare?

They'll be held at the same time as the 2014 European Elections, which should be around May 20th.

richiek83

Hi folks,

I have recently created a blog to discuss Public Policy related matters in this country. My first blog is about Local Government reform and in particular the recent reform document titled Putting Peoplec First. Some of my views on this reform agenda for Local Govt can be seen in the attached link.


http://richardkelly50.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/putting-people-first-2012-local-government-reform-in-ireland

Le_Dieux

I don't mean any offence Richie, nor do I wish to start a row. BUT, on opening Your link, I totally disagree with Your first sentence.

Since when did a politician put the people first?

richiek83

Le_Dieux.

Putting People First is the name of the policy document that has been put forward by the Dept of Environment and its Minister. I agree with your sentiment by the way. The policy document in full can be read at the following link.


http://www.environ.ie/en/PublicationsDocuments/FileDownLoad,31309,en.pdf

raven136

Spike Nolan to sf/independent
Any truth to this rumour

Le_Dieux

raven136 wrote: »

Spike Nolan to sf/independent
Any truth to this rumour

Really Raven? Well now, that would be interesting. Any source?

Le_Dieux

richiek83 wrote: »

Le_Dieux.

Putting People First is the name of the policy document that has been put forward by the Dept of Environment and its Minister. I agree with your sentiment by the way. The policy document in full can be read at the following link.


http://www.environ.ie/en/PublicationsDocuments/FileDownLoad,31309,en.pdf[/QUOTE]

Richie

Don't know if You have seen this, but I would suggest You read: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/seanad-to-survive-labour-in-meltdown-29507498.html

And then read some of the comments, particularly if You start at 'oldest' and work forward. I could never claim to talk for the people, nor am I any of the authors of the comments there...yet haha... but this is how the people feel.