An Tainiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs has announced his resignation as the leader of the Labour Party. This comes after a major drop in support for Labour at the Local and European Elections. He stated at a press conference today that a new leader will be able to renew the Labour Party, he told reporters that in 2011 he and his party took the difficult decision to enter government at a time of great economic pressure. He said he believes that Labour delivered on many of the issues that they had brought to government, however he also stated that the Elections had sent a clear message to the government parties. He will remain on as Leader of the party until the new Leader is elected and will remain as Tainiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs until a decision is made between An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the new leader of the Labour Party.

Election counts for the European and Local Elections are continuing around Ireland. Local Election counts in Northern Ireland finished on Saturday with the DUP and Sinn Fein remaining the main political parties with 130 and 105 seats respectively. The SDLP made some gains with 66 councilors across the 11 new northern councils, as did the UUP with 88 councilors elected. The Alliance Party won 32 seats with independents and others getting 41. In the Republic counting is still underway with 915 seats declared. Fianna Fail are currently leading with 259 seats across the country. They are followed by Independents and Others, with 230 seats. Sinn Féin has made major gains in the republic with 153 seats, with Fine Gael holding 223 seats. The Labour Party are currently just holding on to 50 seats, with many calling Election Day Independance Day.

There are 3 electoral areas in Louth. Each will elect 6 councillors, Ballymahon, Granard and Longford.

There are four electoral areas in Louth. Ardee and Dundalk-Carlingford will elect six councillors each, Drogheada will elect ten and Dundalk-South will elect seven.