# 1985 Carlow County Council election

An election to all 21 seats on Carlow County Council took place on 20 June 1985 as part of that year's Irish local elections. Councillors were elected from four local electoral areas (LEAs) for a five-year term of office on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). This term was extended for a further year, to 1991.

## Results by party

| Party | Party | Seats | ± | First Pref. votes | FPv% | ±% |
| | Fianna Fáil | 10 | +2 | 7,567 | 44.31 | |
| | Fine Gael | 7 | -2 | 5,061 | 29.64 | |
| | Labour | 3 | 0 | 3,191 | 18.69 | |
| | Independent | 1 | 0 | 993 | 5.81 | |
| Total | Total | 21 | 0 | 17,077 | 100.00 | — |

## Results by local electoral area
### Borris

Borris: 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Labour | Michael Meaney* | | 1,063 | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Mary Kinsella | | 598 | 670 | 742 | |
| | Fine Gael | Cyril Hughes | | 500 | 607 | 865 | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Liam Murphy* | | 445 | 508 | 567 | 620 |
| | Fianna Fáil | Richard O'Driscoll* | | 434 | 490 | 508 | 522 |
| | Fine Gael | Margaret Kavanagh* | | 360 | 444 | | |
| Electorate: 5,424 Valid: 3,400 (62.68%) Quota: 681 ||||||||

### Carlow

Carlow: 7 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| | Independent | Michael Kearns | | 699 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Fine Gael | Sen. John Browne* | | 690 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Patrick Carpenter* | | 618 | 623 | 625 | 630 | 658 | 673 | | | | | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | M. J. Nolan TD* | | 543 | 546 | 547 | 550 | 568 | 574 | 574 | 592 | 642 | 713 | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Jimmy Murnane | | 409 | 411 | 412 | 421 | 433 | 434 | 434 | 441 | 472 | 533 | 552 | 574 | 623 |
| | Fine Gael | Carmel McDonnell* | | 379 | 384 | 392 | 394 | 403 | 429 | 430 | 447 | 454 | 466 | 469 | 522 | 545 |
| | Fine Gael | Patrick Governey | | 367 | 370 | 376 | 380 | 388 | 416 | 421 | 433 | 441 | 461 | 464 | 517 | 533 |
| | Fianna Fáil | James Brady | | 308 | 311 | 311 | 316 | 323 | 329 | 330 | 341 | 369 | 386 | 404 | 435 | 504 |
| | Sinn Féin | Kieran Foley | | 265 | 266 | 266 | 282 | 286 | 297 | 298 | 321 | 326 | 331 | 333 | 361 | |
| | Labour | Cecil Whelan | | 220 | 223 | 224 | 241 | 243 | 252 | 253 | 278 | 284 | 296 | 300 | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Jim Nolan* | | 177 | 178 | 179 | 181 | 192 | 194 | 194 | 204 | 228 | | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | James Doyle | | 170 | 171 | 173 | 175 | 181 | 182 | 182 | 187 | | | | | |
| | Independent | George Russell | | 154 | 157 | 157 | 170 | 171 | 174 | 174 | | | | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | T.J. Byrne | | 111 | 112 | 112 | 113 | | | | | | | | | |
| | Fine Gael | Eileen Brophy | | 107 | 109 | 113 | 115 | 118 | | | | | | | | |
| | Workers' Party | Margaret O'Brien | | 91 | 93 | 93 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 10,225 Valid: 5,308 (53.26%) Spoilt: 138 Quota: 664 Turnout: 5,446 |||||||||||||||||

### Muinebheag

Muinebheag: 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| | Labour | John McNally* | | 864 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Labour | Jim Townsend* | | 727 | 734 | 758 | | | | | | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Martin Nevin* | | 492 | 496 | 515 | 517 | 541 | 568 | 578 | 695 | 784 | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Tom Nolan | | 414 | 418 | 434 | 434 | 448 | 575 | 584 | 641 | 883 | | |
| | Fine Gael | Mary McDonald* | | 360 | 361 | 367 | 367 | 401 | 422 | 525 | 564 | 578 | 596 | 607 |
| | Fianna Fáil | Donie Nolan | | 318 | 325 | 327 | 327 | 332 | 363 | 376 | 423 | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Eddie Cullen | | 288 | 289 | 292 | 292 | 298 | 320 | 331 | | | | |
| | Fine Gael | Kay Brophy | | 272 | 273 | 276 | 277 | 302 | 309 | | | | | |
| | Fine Gael | Joe Manning* | | 250 | 253 | 264 | 265 | 369 | 387 | 529 | 548 | 569 | 588 | 592 |
| | Fianna Fáil | Arthur McDonald | | 247 | 256 | 270 | 270 | 292 | | | | | | |
| | Fine Gael | Denis Foley | | 232 | 237 | 250 | 251 | | | | | | | |
| | Independent | John Curran | | 49 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 6,439 Valid: 4,513 (71.28%) Spoilt: 77 Quota: 753 Turnout: 4,590 |||||||||||||||

### Tullow

Tullow: 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Fine Gael | Michael Deering* | | 730 | | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Arthur Kennedy* | | 681 | | | | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Bill Bolger* | | 567 | 579 | 599 | 653 | |
| | Fianna Fáil | John Pender | | 558 | 561 | 568 | 656 | |
| | Fine Gael | Brendan Brophy* | | 448 | 481 | 484 | 500 | 596 |
| | Fine Gael | Pat O'Toole* | | 366 | 394 | 397 | 405 | 535 |
| | Labour | Michael Hickey | | 317 | 327 | 329 | 346 | |
| | Fianna Fáil | Sean Gallagher | | 189 | 190 | 193 | | |
| Electorate: TBC Valid: 3,856 Spoilt: 54 Quota: 643 Turnout: 3,910 |||||||||