The 1920 Dublin Corporation election took place on Thursday 15 January 1920 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 80 councillors to

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

were elected from 10 borough electoral areas on the system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

by means of the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

(PR-STV) for a five-year term of office. Sinn Féin won a slight majority in the council, with 42 seats. Whilst the Sinn Féin majority was small, they emerged from the election as by far the largest party on the Dublin Corporation council. Following the election Thomas Kelly, the Sinn Féin MP for Dublin St Stephen's Green, was unanimously elected by the council as the new

Lord Mayor of Dublin The Lord Mayor of Dublin ( ga, Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ga, Cathaoirleach, links=no ) of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The ...

. Kelly was elected despite being held at the time as a political prisoner in

Wormwood Scrubs Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs (or simply Scrubs), is an open space in Old Oak Common located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the borough, ...

prison in England. Kelly was nominated for the position by the outgoing Lord Mayor

Laurence O'Neill Laurence O'Neill (4 March 1864 – 26 July 1943) was an Irish politician and corn merchant. O'Neill was elected to Dáil Éireann as an independent Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Mid at the 1922 general election. He did not contest the 1923 ...

. Due to Kelly's imprisonment O'Neill continued as effective Lord Mayor.

Boundaries

These were the first elections under the

Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919 Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, which introduced a form of

. Under the old

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

system, each of 20 wards had elected one alderman and three additional councillors. In 1919, the Local Government Board of Ireland created 10 borough electoral areas (BEAs), taking a greater account of population in the city, which took effect at these elections. Two councillors from each BEA were designated as aldermen.

Results by party

Results by electoral area

* designates incumbent councillor.

No. 1 Electoral Area

Arran Quay Ward.

No. 2 Electoral Area

Clontarf East Ward, Clontarf West Ward, Drumcondra Ward and Glasnevin Ward The count was particularly long, with no candidates meeting the quota from counts 2 to 14.

No. 3 Electoral Area

Fitzwilliam Ward, Mansion House Ward, Royal Exchange Ward and South City Ward.

No. 4 Electoral Area

Inns Quay Ward and Rotunda Ward.

No. 5 Electoral Area

Merchant's Quay Ward.

No. 6 Electoral Area

Mountjoy Ward.

No. 7 Electoral Area

New Kilmainham Ward and Usher's Quay Ward.

No. 8 Electoral Area

North City Ward and North Dock Ward.

No. 9 Electoral Area

Wood Quay Ward.

No. 10 Electoral Area

Trinity Ward and South Dock Ward.

Notes

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 1920 1920 Irish local elections

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...