by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

was held in the

Cork North-Central "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

constituency of

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

on Friday, 29 November 2019, to fill the vacancy left by the election to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

of outgoing TD

Billy Kelleher William Kelleher (born 20 January 1968) is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the South constituency since July 2019. He is a member of Fianna Fáil, part of Renew Europe. He previously se ...

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

. The election was won by Pádraig O'Sullivan, a Fianna Fáil member of

Cork County Council Cork County Council () is the local authority of County Cork, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001, as amended. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban pl ...

. Sheila O'Callaghan was co-opted to O'Sullivan's seat on Cork County Council following his election to the Dáil. Three other by-elections were held on the same day, in Dublin Fingal, Dublin Mid-West, and

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

. The Electoral (Amendment) Act 204 stipulates that a by-election in Ireland must be held within six months of a vacancy occurring. The by-election writ was moved in the Dáil on 7 November 2019. At the 2016 general election, the electorate of Cork North-Central was 81,609, and the constituency elected one

TD, one AAA–PBP TD, one

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

TD, and one

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

TD. The 2019 electorate was 85,524 (a 4.8% increase). Among the by-election candidates were

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

and former MEP

Colm Burke Colm Burke (born 17 January 1957) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central since the 2020 general election. He served as Minister of State at the Department of Health from 2024 to 2025, a Sen ...

; four

Cork City Council Cork City Council () is the local authority of the city of Cork in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Before 1 January 2002, the council was known as Cork Corporation. The council is responsible for ho ...

lors (Thomas Gould, John Maher, Oliver Moran and Fiona Ryan); Cork County Councillor Pádraig O'Sullivan; and three unsuccessful candidates at the May 2019 city council election (Sinéad Halpin. Thomas Kiely, and Finian Toomey). This was the first occasion

Aontú Aontú (; "Unity") is a conservative Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It has been led by Peadar Tóibín since its foundation in January 2019. The party holds socially conservative ...

(also contested

) and the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

(also contested Dublin Fingal and Dublin Mid-West) contested by-elections. In mid-November it was reported that Fine Gael's

Dara Murphy Dara Murphy (born 2 December 1969) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Minister of State from 2014 to 2017 and Lord Mayor of Cork from 2009 to 2010. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency ...

would be resigning his seat in the same constituency in December, to become deputy

chef de cabinet In some Francophone countries and international organisations, a ( French; literally 'head of office') is a senior official working for a high-ranking political or administrative figure such as a government minister. They are typically responsib ...

of European Commissioner

Mariya Gabriel Mariya Ivanova Gabriel (, ''née'' Nedelcheva, , born 20 May 1979) is a Bulgarian and European politician, president of the Robert Schuman Institute. She served as Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bulgaria), Mini ...

. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' reported regret within Fine Gael that Murphy had not resigned sooner, which would have allowed one

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

by-election to fill both vacancies, increasing the likelihood that Fine Gael would have retained a seat.

Result

The number of votes to qualify for reimbursement of

election expenses Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpora ...

was 3,179 (one-quarter of the quota), which was reached by O'Sullivan, Burke, Gould, and Maher.

References

External links

Cork city returning officer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cork North-Central by-election, 2019 2019 Cork North-Central by-election 2019 in Irish politics 32nd Dáil Dáil by-elections Elections in Cork (city) November 2019 in Ireland

Result

See also

References

External links