Local and European elections confirmed for June 7

Local and European elections will take place across Ireland on Friday, June 7.

In addition, voters will be asked to vote on a referendum on the European Patent Court.

There were calls to move the elections to Saturday in a bid to boost turnout and allow students who are sitting the Leaving Cert to vote, but the Taoiseach has confirmed the elections will be held in the traditional Friday slot.

The news was confirmed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who was asked by reporters when the next general election will be to which he replied “not anytime soon; the next elections will be the local and European elections and Limerick Mayor election on the seventh of June.”

A general election must be held by March 22, 2025.

Voters in Limerick will vote on a directly-elected mayor on June 7th, but there are no signs of Dubliners getting to hold a similar election anytime soon.

This will mark the first time since 2009 that local and European elections will be held in June, with the last two rounds of elections held on the last Friday in May in 2014 and 2019.

Across Dublin, voters from Fingal County Council, Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown will be voting, and Dubliners also have the chance to select their next delegation to the European parliament on that day.

Irish voters got their first chance since 2020 to exercise their democratic right to vote and roundly rejected votes on Family and Care with a national turnout of 44.3%.