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Everything You Need To Know: The Elections & Referendum This Friday

SPIN 1038
SPIN 1038

12:19 22 May 2019


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This Friday 24th May Ireland will vote in a local election, a referendum on divorce and in a European election.

Here's everything you need to know ahead of polling day:

Local Election

Every five years we have a local election in Ireland, and the next one is happening this Friday.

We'll be asked to vote for councilors who will represent our communities in local authorities.

Officially the role of a councilors is a part-time job, with payment of approximately €17,000 a year.

There are almost 2,000 candidates contesting in the elections, with 949 seats up for grabs.

63 of these seats are reserved for Dublin City candidates with 40 seats each for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin.

These are broken our across 11 areas with candidates are either Independent or members of a party.

In Ireland we use a single transferable vote method.

This means that rather then choosing one person, we list all our choices by putting a number 1, 2, 3, etc. beside the candidates we want to vote in.

You will see posters around your area indicating the candidates looking for your vote.

We should have the results of this election by Saturday 25th May.

The newly elected councilors will begin work on 31st May.

Referendum

In addition to the local election, we'll also vote in a divorce referendum this Friday.

Two changes are being proposed.

  1. How long people must be living apart before applying for a divorce
  2. The recognition of foreign divorces

The constitution currently states that a married couple must be living apart for four out of five years before they are eligible for a divorce.

A Yes vote will remove the section entirely while a No vote will leave it as it.

The second proposed change involves Ireland's recognition of foreign divorces.

A Yes vote means a piece of the constitution will be removed and replaced with a newly worded section.

There will be one question on the ballot paper.

A vote for Yes means both of the above changes will be made. A vote for No means neither change will be made.

For unbiased information on the divorce referendum visit Refcom.ie.

European Election

Lastly, we'll be asked to vote in the European Election this Friday.

Thirteen MEPs (Member of European Parliament) will be elected.

 

Here are the Dublin candidates:

  1. Barry Andrews (Fianna Fáil)
  2. Lynn Boylan (Sinn Féin)
  3. Gillian Brien (Solidarity - People Before Profit)
  4. Ciarán Cuffe (Green Party)
  5. Clare Daly (Independents 4 Change)
  6. Mark Durkan (Fine Gael)
  7. Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)
  8. Garry Gannon (Social Democrats)
  9. Ben Gilroy (Independent)
  10. Rita Harrold (Solidarity - People Before Profit)
  11. Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
  12. Hermann Kelly (Independent)
  13. Tony Bosco Lowth (Independent)
  14. Aisling McNiffe (Independent)
  15. Mark Mullan (Independent)
  16. Eamon Murphy (Independent)
  17. Gemma O'Doherty (Independent)
  18. Éilis Ryan (The Workers' Party)
  19. Alex White (Labour)

If you don't know who to vote for yet, this website will help.

Which Candidate allows voters to take a survey to figure out which candidates share their views.

What else do I need to know?

Polling station will open from 7am to 10pm this Friday 24th May.

You must be over 18 and registered on the Register of Electors in order to vote.

Unsure if you're eligible?

Use the Check The Register website to find out.


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