1924 Fermanagh County Council election

September 2026 1924 Fermanagh County Council election County Fermanagh File:Ferm arms.png legislative Popular no 1920 Fermanagh County Council election 1928 Fermanagh County Council election Ulster Unionist Party 21 Nationalist Party 2 The 1924 Fermanagh County Council election was scheduled to held in June 1924 alongside the 1924 Northern Ireland local elections. It was designed to elect 20 councillors to Fermanagh County Council and was the first local election held in County Fermanagh since the partition of Ireland. Due to protests in the way the council had been run and due to gerrymandering of the voting districts by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, Irish nationalist parties boycotted the election, allowing the Ulster Unionist Party to win all seats unopposed, though 2 nationalist councillors were later co-opted in. Background Originally elections to Fermanagh County Council had been held under single transferrable vote. In the 1920 Fermanagh County Council election, the Nationalist Party and Sinn Fein held a nationalist majority. Shortly before the partition of Ireland, the council voted in 1921 to declare that they would not recognise the Parliament of Northern Ireland and declared allegiance to the unrecognised Second Dail based in Southern Ireland. In response, the Royal Irish Constabulary ejected them from their offices and the council was temporarily dissolved with the Northern Irish government appointing commissioners to replace the council.Farrell Michael Michael Farrell (activist) Northern Ireland: The Orange State Pluto Press 1980 0861043006 2nd 82 By the time the council was re-established, the Parliament of Northern Ireland had passed the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1922 which abolished proportional representation and redrew the county district boundaries to favour the Unionists.https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/articles/7-december-1922-ulster-opts-out-of-the-irish-free-state 7 December 1922: Ulster Opts Out of the Irish Free State RTE 8 September 2026https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/crights/pdfs/fcra80.pdf FERMANAGH FACTS Ulster University 5 2026-09-08 The act also required elected members to swear an oath of allegiance.194 A New History of Ireland VII Oxford University Press 2010 J. R. Hill 9780199592821 As a result of this, the nationalist parties boycotted participating in the election.https://www.newspapers.com/image/1253336815/ No fight. Mock heroics by Fermanagh Sinn Feiners 1924-04-17 5 Impartial Reporter and Farmers' Journal subscription Newspapers.com 8 September 2026 In April 1924, the nominations were closed and revealed that only Ulster Unionist Party members had stood unopposed and were thus declared as elected in 19 of the 20 seats with no nominations arriving in time for the district of Belleek.https://www.newspapers.com/article/impartial-reporter-and-farmers-journal/205548431/ Fermanagh Nominations 24 April 1924 8 8 September 2026 Impartial Reporter and Farmers' Journal Newspapers.com Aftermath When the council first convened in June, the Earl of Belmore initially took the chair due to him having an ex officio seat on the county council as the chairman of Enniskillen Rural Council. The council voted to co-opt two more members. The UUP's James Cooper and the Nationalist Party's James O'Donnell accepted co-option after unanimous approval of the council. Cooper then took over as chairman. The vacant seat was also filled by co-option with the Nationalist Party's James Gavin being co-opted. There was an objection from Doon councillor W. J. Brown who felt the council should not appoint its political opponents. However, Brown's amending motion failed to receive a seconder and Gavin was formally co-opted on a majority vote with only Brown dissenting.https://www.newspapers.com/image/1243406462/ Fermanagh County Council June 11, 1924 3 Belfast Telegraph subscription Newspapers.com 8 September 2026 References Category:1924 elections in Northern Ireland Category:Council elections in County Fermanagh Category:Uncontested elections