Out of 2,168 candidates, 618 women are running for seats, according to statistics collated by Dr. Adrian Kavanagh of Maynooth University. Nominations concluded last Saturday.

Despite concerns about a potential “chilling effect” from social media abuse, which might discourage women from standing for public office, Women for Election said that record numbers had been reached.

According to the group, Ireland has the 103rd-lowest percentage of women in local politics in the EU and the 103rd-lowest percentage of women in national politics worldwide.

“Only 25% of council members are women, despite the fact that women make up 50% of the population,” stated Brian Sheehan, CEO of Women for Election.

“Voters across will have the opportunity on June 7 to transform Irish politics and guarantee that more women are seated at the tables making decisions that affect voters and their local communities. Politics functions better for everyone when there are more women in it, he said.”

Women for Elections has created the Data Hub, a research tool that provides historical data for each Local Electoral Area (LEA) and an interactive map that displays female candidates in each LEA, in collaboration with the All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO) at Maynooth University.