Local Elections 2019

donalh087 · 04-05-2019 10:16pm #1

Quick question - any idea where I would find a final list of candidates for LE 19?

L1011 · 05-05-2019 12:28am

Council websites, council per council and not all of them give a toss about it.

Anything else is going to be error prone.

RainNeverBow · 05-05-2019 12:47am

How will this election go anyway? Any predictions?

L1011 · 05-05-2019 1:45am

RainNeverBow wrote: »

How will this election go anyway? Any predictions?

We've decent proportionality with relatively large areas; although not as good as last time (some split municipal districts in to to two areas - realistically to try reduce the number of Independents) - so it'll be extremely close to the polling figures basically.

The main points of interest for me will be in whether there is a reduction in the number of Indepdendents and a respective return to the established parties; and also whether Aontu can even hold on to their existing 7.

There's a poster on politics.ie who is convinced that AAA-PBP have been so careful in selecting seats that every single candidate will get elected. That's not going to happen - but it'll be interesting to see who they do return; polling can be quite useless at the low end so it could be anywhere from embarrassing to quite a good day for them

The performance of smaller party candidates will heavily influence decisions on how many candidates to run in a GE for everyone, including the big parties.

Itssoeasy · 05-05-2019 12:53pm

The closing date is the 7th of May so there might be changes before then.

Larbre34 · 05-05-2019 6:14pm

Nominations actually closed yesterday and the Councils have the lists on their websites now.

The 7th is the date by which nominees can decide to withdraw and not appear on the ballot, if they withdraw after that date, the ballot will be gone to print and they will still appear on it.

is_that_so · 05-05-2019 6:20pm

RainNeverBow wrote: »

How will this election go anyway? Any predictions?

It's usually a question of who will get punished. In that regard it could be a quiet election. Most of the parties seem to be in holding mode. Independents and smaller parties might suffer.

Itssoeasy wrote: »

The closing date is the 7th of May so there might be changes before then.

Here's a partial list. By the looks of it, it will have all of them in due course.

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0505/1047645-local-elections/

donalh087 · 05-05-2019 10:27pm

Nothing on the Cork Co Co website.

Brussels Sprout · 06-05-2019 8:53am

Adrian Kavanagh has been keeping track of all of these. He has it ordered by party so you might need to do a bit of searching around to get the full picture for any one ward:

https://adriankavanaghelections.org/author/adriankavanagh/

donalh087 · 06-05-2019 1:43pm

Thanks BS. I have seen Adrians work - I know the main party candidates and he has already missed one or two of the minor ones so my confidence is not absolute. I was hoping for an official definitive list.

WoollyRedHat · 06-05-2019 8:17pm

Is there any decent write up on the incumbents seeking re-election and their policies as well as council voting records? Same for first time candidates would be useful in helping people make an informed choice.

L1011 · 07-05-2019 10:25am

Just realised Gary Gannon isn't running for the council. He won't get the Euro seat; so that's anywhere from a few months to years in the wilderness for him - presume he'll run in the GE.

L1011 · 08-05-2019 8:02am

He's actually just moved MDs, confusingly. Should be safe enough in the new one

is_that_so · 08-05-2019 11:25am

L1011 wrote: »

He's actually just moved MDs, confusingly. Should be safe enough in the new one

Isn't he doing both?

L1011 · 08-05-2019 11:31am

He's doing the Cabra Glasnevin MD and Europe. He was North Inner City and that's where I was looking

RainNeverBow · 08-05-2019 12:57pm

Normally I hate that **** of dual running but with the purgatory of the fourth seat because of Brexit it makes a lot of sense to me. Can't expect someone who is elected but not getting paid to do nothing imo

expectationlost · 08-05-2019 4:51pm

donalh087 wrote: »

Quick question - any idea where I would find a final list of candidates for LE 19?

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0505/1047645-local-elections/

Eric Cartman · 08-05-2019 8:27pm

L1011 wrote: »

He's doing the Cabra Glasnevin MD and Europe. He was North Inner City and that's where I was looking

7 Seats, 18 Candidates most incumbents from the old boundaries should be safe.

That one ill be keeping an eye on as my local election donkey pick is in there.

Neyite · 10-05-2019 3:35pm

Is there anywhere that I can find the candidates stance on certain issues? I seem to recall a website that listed all the candidates and a tick or an x under certain topical headings but no idea what that website was called.

I've gleaned a bit of information from different articles and news sources but a bit more of an overview of their politics would be really helpful.

L1011 · 10-05-2019 6:51pm

Such a site would be effectively impossible to curate - you likely saw a European or possibly a last General Election site; both of which have a fraction of the candidates.

Many local candidates (including sitting Councillors) have absolutely zero profile online and outside of their local area so you'd have trouble even getting their details to contact the non-sitting ones (except by post) to ask them.

CrabRevolution · 11-05-2019 2:54pm

As far as I can tell most local candidates don't really have any stances on anything. Even their own election literature just has bland clichés like "fighting for you", "the right experience for the job", "working for the community", "getting the job done" etc.
There might be a few vague promises like "fight cuts to local services" and "help support rural Ireland" but that's as far as it goes.

stefanovich · 11-05-2019 3:06pm

CrabRevolution wrote: »

As far as I can tell most local candidates don't really have any stances on anything. Even their own election literature just has bland clichés like "fighting for you", "the right experience for the job", "working for the community", "getting the job done" etc.
There might be a few vague promises like "fight cuts to local services" and "help support rural Ireland" but that's as far as it goes.

Fighting for themselves. Promoting their business. Advancing their careers.

man98 · 12-05-2019 5:47pm

CrabRevolution wrote: »

As far as I can tell most local candidates don't really have any stances on anything. Even their own election literature just has bland clichés like "fighting for you", "the right experience for the job", "working for the community", "getting the job done" etc.
There might be a few vague promises like "fight cuts to local services" and "help support rural Ireland" but that's as far as it goes.

To be fair, the councillor's priority is not to be an ideologue but to make sure the needs of constituents are covered. In an election, it is best to look at what the party stands for and against, or in the case of independents to look at their public profiles. If you can't find any clear information on a candidate's stance on something, it's likely that this isn't very important to them. The best thing to do is directly ask the candidate an ope ended question which is in no way a leading question, then see how they answer it, and if it is in any way articulate. Generic 'fighting cuts' or 'support rural Ireland' promises are pointless, you need to ask for some substance.

MattressRick · 13-05-2019 8:02am

Bit of a side note but why on earth do the local councils need people to fill out a handwritten form and bring to a Garda station to change address for their voting card?
Surely this could be done like any other normal company like mobile phone providers, fill in your address online and upload a utility bill as proof?

stefanovich · 13-05-2019 8:59am

MattressRick wrote: »

Bit of a side note but why on earth do the local councils need people to fill out a handwritten form and bring to a Garda station to change address for their voting card?
Surely this could be done like any other normal company like mobile phone providers, fill in your address online and upload a utility bill as proof?

Ahh but you see if you know a politician they can get your name on there no hassle. No gardai checking your forms or any of that nonsense. Just as long as you vote for them.

Eric Cartman · 13-05-2019 9:18am

CrabRevolution wrote: »

As far as I can tell most local candidates don't really have any stances on anything. Even their own election literature just has bland clichés like "fighting for you", "the right experience for the job", "working for the community", "getting the job done" etc.
There might be a few vague promises like "fight cuts to local services" and "help support rural Ireland" but that's as far as it goes.

theres so many special interest groups these days that they want to avoid becoming targets. Having opinions is the worst thing to do in the social media politics age.

MattressRick · 13-05-2019 10:00am

stefanovich wrote: »

MattressRick wrote: »

Bit of a side note but why on earth do the local councils need people to fill out a handwritten form and bring to a Garda station to change address for their voting card?
Surely this could be done like any other normal company like mobile phone providers, fill in your address online and upload a utility bill as proof?

Ahh but you see if you know a politician they can get your name on there no hassle. No gardai checking your forms or any of that nonsense. Just as long as you vote for them.

That's not quite answering my question about the logic behind this beurocracy, paperwork, postage which is avoidable in this age of the internet.

man98 · 13-05-2019 1:26pm

MattressRick wrote: »

Bit of a side note but why on earth do the local councils need people to fill out a handwritten form and bring to a Garda station to change address for their voting card?
Surely this could be done like any other normal company like mobile phone providers, fill in your address online and upload a utility bill as proof?

There's a pilot scheme in Dublin where this is all being done online, I would imagine it'll be rolled out in the coming months across the country.

stefanovich · 14-05-2019 7:10am

MattressRick wrote: »

That's not quite answering my question about the logic behind this beurocracy, paperwork, postage which is avoidable in this age of the internet.

It's only there for people voting the wrong way.

expectationlost · 14-05-2019 7:24pm

possibly spotty but https://candidates.ie/

L1011 · 14-05-2019 8:59pm

expectationlost wrote: »

possibly spotty but https://candidates.ie/

Not "possibly" spotty, "uselessly" spotty.

Has only the FF candidates in my MD, just the SocDem in one neighbouring and just the Green in another.

You have to pay to write anything beyond your social media accounts so realistically its no better than a local newspaper list.

Local Elections 2019

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