1985 Laois County Council election

An election to Laois County Council took place on 20 June 1985 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 25 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a six-year term of office.

1985 Laois County Council election

20 June 1985
All 25 seats to Laois County Council
Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Seats won 14 9 1 Seat change +3 -3 -1   Party Independent Seats won 1 Seat change +1
Map showing the area of Laois County Council
Council control before election Fianna Fáil Council control after election Fianna Fáil

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	First Pref. votes	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	14	+3	11,989	50.33%
	Fine Gael	9	-3	8,513	35.74%
	Labour	1	-1	1,446	6.07%
	Independent	1	+1	1,873	7.86%
Totals		25	-	23,219	100%	—

Results by Electoral Area

Borris-in-Ossory

Borris-in-Ossory - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Fianna Fáil	Liam HylandTD*		1,479
	Independent	Jimmy Kelly*		837	873
	Fine Gael	William Mansfield*		712	744	745	800	845	850	854
	Fine Gael	Sean Jacob*		589	654	655	657	749	751	835	914
	Fine Gael	Jim Phelan*		508	528	529	530	571	572	582	664	785	829
	Fianna Fáil	Fintan Phelan		390	460	466	493	536	537	569	641	735	737
	Labour	Larry Kavanagh		377	395	402	405	500	501	511
	Fianna Fáil	Paddy Phelan*		369	446	447	527	528	531	651	665	723	725
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Fennelly		356	421	423	441	446	447	533	552
	Fine Gael	Brendan Dunne		349	362	368	373
	Fianna Fáil	Eddie Kirwan		326	386	387	435	465	470	530	649	821	824
	Fianna Fáil	Eamon Rafter*		313	411	412	428	433	433
	Fianna Fáil	Martin Keane		193	260	262
	Independent	Brendan Clear		31	35
Electorate: 9,808   Valid: 6,829 (70.01%)   Spoilt: 38   Quota: 854   Turnout: 6,867

Emo

Emo- 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fianna Fáil	Ray Cribbin		691	700	729	903
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Nerney*		684	716	741	852
	Fine Gael	Jim Buggie*		553	624	711	718	725
	Labour	Ned Kelly*		456	593	626	698	747
	Fianna Fáil	Don Cunningham		377	383	394
	Fine Gael	Mary Lewis		369	387	495	513	521
	Fine Gael	John O'Reilly*		296	298
	Labour	Frank Byrne		279
Electorate: 6,146   Valid: 3,705 (60.93%)   Spoilt: 40   Quota: 742   Turnout: 3,745

Luggacurren

Luggacurren- 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fianna Fáil	Martin Rohan*		668	674	681	681	712	775	785
	Fianna Fáil	James Cooney*		649	679	695	708	927
	Fianna Fáil	Mary Wheatley		556	572	593	610	718	760	862
	Fianna Fáil	Liam Doran		369	373	386	439
	Independent	William Fleming*		366	408	436	450	455	458
	Independent	John Daly*		363	403	443	458	489	496	683
	Fine Gael	Senator Charles McDonald*		338	357	432	649	674	680	755
	Fine Gael	John Gaffney		267	282	347
	Fine Gael	John Moran		240	271
	Labour	Tony O'Brien		211
Electorate: 5,915   Valid: 4,027 (63.13%)   Spoilt: 41   Quota: 806   Turnout: 4,068

Portlaoise

Portlaoise - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fianna Fáil	Joe Dunne*		907
	Fine Gael	Tom Keenan*		750
	Fianna Fáil	Jerry Lodge*		564	639	669	678	813
	Fine Gael	William Aird		549	563	581	654	690	763
	Fianna Fáil	John Hosey*		471	483	490	568	621	674
	Fine Gael	Joe Carroll*		395	401	413	439	457	552
	Independent	Joe McCormack		256	267	312	329	359
	Fianna Fáil	Tom Jacob		228	269	278	280
	Fine Gael	Michael Dea		196	197	213
	Labour	Tom Phelan		123	125
	Independent	Patrick Larkin		20	21
Electorate: 7,056   Valid: 4,459 (63.79%)   Spoilt: 42   Quota: 744   Turnout: 4,501

Tinnahinch

Tinnahinch- 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fianna Fáil	John Moloney		1,279
	Fine Gael	Oliver J. FlanaganTD*		728	779	918
	Fine Gael	David Goodwin*		485	508	562	624	645	650	898
	Fine Gael	Michael Lalor*		478	491	506	522	545	555	658	739
	Fianna Fáil	Seamus McDonald		473	660	685	698	928
	Fine Gael	Denis Feighery		440	449	488	499	516	522
	Fianna Fáil	Joe Digan		378	425	447	453	510	616	727	743
	Fine Gael	Noel Deffew		271	330
	Fianna Fáil	Donal McCormack		269	358	367	372
Electorate: 6,332   Valid: 4,801 (76.58%)   Spoilt: 48   Quota: 801   Turnout: 4,849

External links

• Department of the Environment, Ireland (28 January 2010). "Local elections, 1985 : election results and transfer of votes in respect of each county, and county borough council : and election statistics relating to all local authorities" (PDF). Department of the Environment. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
• Official website
• irishelectionliterature