The functions of local government in the Republic of Ireland are mostly exercised by thirty-one local authorities, termed County, City, or City and County Councils.
The principal decision-making body in each of the thirty-one local authorities is composed of the members of the council, elected by universal franchise in local elections every five years from multi-seat
local electoral areas using the
single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
. Many of the authorities' statutory functions are, however, the responsibility of ministerially appointed career officials termed
Chief executives
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
.
The competencies of the city and county councils include planning, transport infrastructure, sanitary services, public safety (notably fire services) and the provision of public libraries.
Each local authority sends representatives to one of three
Regional Assemblies.
Local government in the state is governed by Local Government Acts 1925 to 2019, the principal act of which is the
Local Government Act 2001. The
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 is the founding document of the present system. The
Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (1999) provided for constitutional recognition of
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...
for the first time in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
in a new Article 28A. The
Local Government Reform Act 2014
The Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1) is an act of the Oireachtas which provided for a major restructuring of local government in Ireland with effect from the 2014 local elections. It merged some first-tier county and city councils, ...
changed the structure by the abolition of all town councils and the merger of certain county councils. The reforms came into effect in 2014, to coincide with
that year's local elections.
Historical development
The
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
was a unit of judicial and administrative government introduced to Ireland following the
Norman invasion
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the C ...
. The country was
shired in a number of phases with
County Wicklow being the last to be shired in 1625. The traditional county of
Tipperary was split into two judicial counties (or
ridings) following the establishment of
assize courts in 1838. At various times in the past, other entities at a level below that of the county or county borough have been employed in Ireland for various judicial, administrative and revenue collecting purposes. Some of these, such as the
barony Barony may refer to:
* Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron
* Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron
* Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
and
Grand jury, no longer fulfil their original purpose while retaining only vestigial
legal relevance in the modern state. Others, such as the
poor law unions, have been transformed into entities still in use by the modern state, but again, their original functions have been substantially altered.
Sixty years later, a more radical reorganisation of local government took place with the
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. This Act established a county council for each of the thirty-three Irish counties and ridings (
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after ...
was divided with
North Riding and
South Riding). County boroughs in each of the cities were separate from the counties. Below the county level were
urban district
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...
s and
municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
s, town commissioners and
rural districts. The geographic remit of the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
, established in December 1922 pursuant to the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
of 1921, was confined to twenty-six of the traditional counties of Ireland, which included 27 administrative counties and four
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...
s.
Rural districts were abolished everywhere except County Dublin in 1925, and in County Dublin in 1930.
In 1994
County Dublin
"Action to match our speech"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg
, map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
and the
Borough of Dún Laoghaire were abolished with their administrative areas being divided among three new counties:
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown,
Fingal and
South Dublin. The state was divided into 8 Regional Authorities.
The
Local Government Act 2001 simplified the local government structure, with the principal tier of local government (county and city councils) covering the entire territory of the state and having general responsibility for all functions of local government except in 80 towns within the territory of county councils, where the lower tier (
town council
A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities.
Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions.
Republic of Ireland
Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...
s) existed with more limited functions. The five county boroughs of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
,
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
,
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
,
Waterford, and
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2 ...
were re-styled city councils, with the same status in law as county councils. The lower-level tiers of borough corporations,
urban district councils and
Town commissioners were reduced to a single tier of town council, with five permitted to retain the title of borough council: the city of
Kilkenny and the four towns of
Sligo,
Drogheda
Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...
,
Clonmel, and
Wexford.
The
Local Government Reform Act 2014
The Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1) is an act of the Oireachtas which provided for a major restructuring of local government in Ireland with effect from the 2014 local elections. It merged some first-tier county and city councils, ...
enacted changes which took effect after the 2014 local elections:
*
Town councils and borough councils were abolished
*All counties outside Dublin were divided into
municipal districts, with county councillors also being district councillors.
*
Limerick City Council and
Limerick County Council were dissolved and succeeded by
Limerick City and County Council.
*
Waterford City Council and
Waterford County Council were dissolved and succeeded by
Waterford City and County Council.
*
North Tipperary County Council and
South Tipperary County Council were dissolved and succeeded by
Tipperary County Council.
*Councillors' power to overturn planning decisions was removed.
*Local services funded by the property tax.
*The 8 Regional Authorities were dissolved and their functions transferred to the
Regional Assemblies.
The civic and ceremonial status of existing cities, boroughs and larger towns was retained after being merged with counties. Those municipal districts that included existing cities or boroughs merged became either "metropolitan districts" or "borough districts". They continue to have mayors as do those districts containing county towns. In all other councils the equivalent office is known as Chair or Cathaoirleach. Each municipal district was issued with a new statutory charter setting out its powers alongside any historic charters that already existed.
Proposed reforms
An election for a directly elected mayor for
Limerick City and County Council was reportedly planned for 2021. As of April 2021, these plans had been deferred, with legislation required before such an election could take place. As of January 2022 it was reported that a vote on the required legislation was proposed to occur "in the second half of the year
022.
On 6 June 2018, the government announced that
Galway City Council
Galway City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach na Gaillimhe) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Galway, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for hou ...
and
Galway County Council
Galway County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae na Gaillimhe) is the authority responsible for local government in County Galway, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for ho ...
were to be merged into a single local authority by 2021. As of late 2021, this proposal was reportedly "off the agenda".
County and city councils
European Union territorial divisions
Eurostat, the statistical
Directorate-General of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, uses a geographical hierarchy system called the
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) for various statistical and financial disbursement purposes. The entirety of Ireland is a
First-level NUTS of the European Union. The Second level (NUTS 2) divides Ireland into three Regions. The Third level (NUTS 3) divides these Regions again, with total of 8 regions in Ireland. Below this are local administrative units (LAUs) which are the basic statistical components for the regions; in Ireland these are the
local electoral areas (LEAs). Electoral divisions have no local government functions, and are used solely for statistical purposes and for defining electoral boundaries.
Funding
Following the abolition of domestic property
rates
Rate or rates may refer to:
Finance
* Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government
* Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another
Mathematics and science
* Rate (mathema ...
in the late 1970s, local councils found it extremely difficult to raise money. The shortfall from the abolition of property rates led to the introduction of service charges for water and refuse, but these were highly unpopular in certain areas and led in certain cases to large-scale non-payment. Arising from a decision made by the
Rainbow Government domestic water charges were abolished on 1 January 1997 placing further pressure on local government funding.
The
Department of Finance is a significant source of funding at present, and additional sources are rates on commercial and industrial property, housing rents, service charges and borrowing.
The dependence on Exchequer has led to charges that Ireland has an overly centralised system of local government.
Over the past three decades numerous studies carried out by consultants on behalf of the Government have recommended the reintroduction of some form of local taxation/charging regime, but these were generally seen as politically unacceptable. However, in 2012 the Local Government Management Agency was established to provide a central data management service to enable the collection of the Home Charge, the Non Principle Private Residence (NPPR) charge and the proposed water charge.
Since 1999, motor tax is paid into the Local Government Fund, established by the Local Government Act 1998, and is distributed on a "Needs and Resources" basis.
In 2013, a
local property tax was introduced to provide funding for local authorities.
Responsibilities
Local government has progressively lost control over services to national and regional bodies, particularly since the foundation of the state in 1922. For instance, local control of education has largely been passed to
Education and Training Board
An Education and Training Board (ETB) ( ga, Bord Oideachais agus Oiliúna) is one of sixteen statutory local education bodies that deliver a wide range of education services in the Republic of Ireland. ETBs manage a large number of secondary school ...
s, while other bodies such as the
Department of Education and Skills still hold significant powers. In 1970 local government lost its health remit, which had been already eroded by the creation of the
Department of Health in 1947, to the
Health Board system. In the 1990s the National Roads Authority took overall authority for national roads projects, supported by local authorities who maintain the non-national roads system. The whole area of waste management has been transformed since the 1990s, with a greater emphasis on environmental protection, recycling infrastructure and higher environmental standards. In 1993 the Environmental Protection Agency was established to underpin a more pro-active and co-ordinated national and local approach to protecting the environment.
An Bord Pleanála
(; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided majo ...
was seen as another inroad into local government responsibilities. Additionally, the trend has been to remove decision-making from elected councillors to full-time professionals and officials. In particular, every city and county has a manager, who is the chief executive but is also a
public servant appointed by the Public Appointments Service (formerly the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission), and is thus answerable to the national government as well as the local council. Therefore, local policy decisions are sometimes heavily influenced by the
TDs who represent the local constituency in
Dáil Éireann (the main chamber of parliament), and may be dictated by national politics rather than local needs.
Local government bodies now have responsibility for such matters as planning, local roads, sanitation, and libraries. The
Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has responsibility for local authorities and related services. Fingal County Manager David O'Connor: "Local Authorities perform both a representational and an operational role because the Irish system of Local Government encompasses both democratic representation and public administration."
See also
*
Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
*
:Local councillors in the Republic of Ireland
*
Local government in Northern Ireland
References
Bibliography
*Mark Callanan and Justin F. Keogan, ''Local Government in Ireland Inside Out'' (2003)
*Matthew Potter, ''The Government and the People of Limerick. The History of Limerick Corporation/City Council 1197–2006'' (2006)
*Desmond Roche, ''Local Government in Ireland'' (1982)
External links
List of Local AuthoritiesAssociation of County and City CouncilsLocal Government Management AgencyLocal Government Overview Performance Matters Measuring Performance in Local Government in Ireland — Our Experience So Far
{{Local government in the Republic of Ireland
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage