1981 Carrickfergus Borough Council election

Elections to Carrickfergus Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 councillors.

Election results
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary
!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! %
 * - class="unsortable" align="centre"

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

!rowspan=2|Total Cllrs

!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others
 * - class="unsortable" align="center"
 * align="left"|Area A
 * bgcolor="#D46A4C"|27.4
 * bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2
 * 20.0
 * 1
 * 22.2
 * 1
 * 30.4
 * 1
 * 5
 * align="left"|Area B
 * 34.4
 * 2
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|35.4
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|2
 * 25.0
 * 1
 * 5.2
 * 0
 * 5
 * align="left"|Area C
 * bgcolor="#D46A4C"|47.1
 * bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3
 * 12.9
 * 0
 * 18.3
 * 1
 * 21.7
 * 1
 * 5
 * - class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"
 * align="left"| Total
 * 36.6
 * 7
 * 22.6
 * 3
 * 21.8
 * 3
 * 19.0
 * 2
 * 15
 * }
 * 19.0
 * 2
 * 15
 * }
 * }

Area A
1977: 2 x Alliance, 2 x UUP, 1 x United Loyalist

1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x United Loyalist

1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from Alliance and UUP

Area B
1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP

1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from Alliance

Area C
1977: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UPNI, 1 x UUP

1981: 3 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist

1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP, Independent Unionist leaves UPNI