Ballynure church in Grangecon, close to the Wicklow/Kildare county border was the venue for a lecture entitled ‘From the Ballot Box to the Council Chamber – Ireland’s first County Council Elections 1899’ provided by Liam Kenny on Wednesday 25 September 2024. Liam explained how, prior to the formation of the county councils, the provision of local services was split between the grand jury system and the poor law unions. The 1899 local elections extended the franchise to all rate payers including women and brought about a three-fold increase in the number of voters. The heads of households could vote irrespective of the level of their rateable valuation. Votes were counted using the first-past-the-post system. In Liam’s case study of the election in Newbridge, he found that 400 votes were cast out of a possible poll of 547 – a very high turnout of over 73%.
Local newspapers were very influential during the pre-election campaigns as were local fife and drum bands. The nationalist candidates won a huge number of seats, changing the nature of local government – making it more democratic and representative. This election was considered to be such a momentous event that the Leinster Leader published commissioned sketches of each elected candidate.
Our thanks to Liam for this very interesting talk to mark the 125th anniversary of the formation of our local authorities. We are also very grateful to Norman Styles for facilitating the use of the beautiful church at Ballynure and for providing us with a short talk on its history.
Photo (L to R): Norman Styles, Paul Gorry and Liam Kenny