The Lord Mayor of Dublin () is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ) of

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

which is the local government body for the city of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent, since December 2024, is

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

councillor Emma Blain who was elected to the position following James Geoghegan's election to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

at the

2024 Irish general election The 2024 Irish general election to elect the 34th Dáil took place on Friday, 29 November 2024, following the dissolution of parliament, dissolution of the 33rd Dáil on 8 November by president of Ireland, President Michael D. Higgins at the re ...

. The office holder is elected annually by the members of the council.

Background

The office of Mayor of Dublin was created in June 1229 by Henry III. The office of ''Mayor'' was elevated to ''

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

'' in 1665 by Charles II, and as part of this process received the honorific ''

the Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealt ...

'' (''the Rt Hon.''). Lord mayors were members of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

, which also entitled them to be addressed as ''the Right Honourable''. Though the Privy Council was abolished in 1922, the Lord Mayor continued to be entitled to be addressed as The Right Honourable as a result of the

Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 The Municipal Corporations Act (Ireland) 1840 ( 3 & 4 Vict. c. 108), ''An Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland'', was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 10 August 1840. It was one of the Municipal Corporat ...

, which granted the title in law. The

Local Government Act 2001 The Local Government Act 2001 (No. 37) was enacted by the Oireachtas on 21 July 2001 to reform local government in Ireland. Most of the provisions of the Act came into operation on 1 January 2002. The act was a restatement and amendment of pr ...

finally removed the title as a consequence of the repeal of the 1840 act.

Functions

The office is largely symbolic and its responsibilities consist of chairing meetings of the city council and representing the city at public events. Apart from a few reserved functions, which are exercised by the city council as a whole, executive power is exercised by the

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, a council official appointed by the Public Appointments Service (formerly by the Local Appointments Commission). Except on a handful of occasions where the city government has been suspended for not striking a rate (a level of local tax), Dublin has had a mayor for nearly eight hundred years. The Lord Mayor resides in the eighteenth-century Mansion House on

Dawson Street Dawson Street (; ) is a street on the southern side of central Dublin, running from St Stephen's Green to the walls of Trinity College Dublin. It is the site of the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the Mansion House, Dublin, Mansion House. ...

. A privilege enjoyed by the Lord Mayor is to receive the first car registration number in Dublin for each new year. Since 2018, each new Lord Mayor is presented with an official bicycle by the Dublin Cycling Campaign. Nial Ring was the first recipient.

City regalia

Chain of office

The chain is the outward sign of the office of the Lord Mayor and is worn within the city when performing official civic functions, important ceremonial occasions and also as appropriate at other times, such as opening conferences, new businesses, etc. It is also worn, at the Lord Mayor's discretion, when paying visits to such places as schools, churches and the emergency services. The Lord Mayor of Dublin's gold chain of office was presented by

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 167 ...

to the City of Dublin in 1698. The chain is composed of decorative links including the Tudor rose, a harp, a trefoil-shaped knot and the letter S (thought to stand for

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

or Steward). A circular gold medal with the bust of William III hangs from the chain. The previous chain was not returned by Michael Creagh, the Protestant Jacobite Lord Mayor in 1688–1689.

Dublin city seal

The city seal dates from 1229/1230 when it was used by the Dublin City Assembly to issue a deed to the Town Clerk. One side shows three watchtowers above one of the city gates being defended by archers, while the reverse side shows a merchant ship at sea.

Great Dublin civic sword

The civic sword dates from the 1390s and was made for

Henry IV of England Henry IV ( – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (a son of King Edward III), and Blanche of Lancaster. Henry was involved in the 1388 ...

in 1399. He gave it to the City of Dublin in 1409/1410.

Great mace of Dublin

The Great mace dates from 1717/1718 and incorporates parts of an earlier mace made in 1665 for the first Lord Mayor of Dublin, Sir Daniel Bellingham. The city sword and Great mace are still used at major civic events such as the Honorary Freedom of the City conferring. All of the above are on display in

City Hall, Dublin The City Hall, Dublin (), originally the Royal Exchange, is a civic building in Dublin, Ireland. It was built between 1769 and 1779, to the designs of architect Thomas Cooley, and is a notable example of 18th-century architecture in the city. ...

Lord Mayor's coach

The Lord Mayor's coach was built in 1789 by William Whitton, of Dominick Street, and made its first appearance on the streets of Dublin on 4 November 1791 in an annual event to mark the birthday of William III. The elaborately decorated coach far exceeded its original budget and was completed for a total cost of £2,690 13s 5d. The coach was used for ceremonial occasions up until 1932 when, due to its poor condition, it was placed in storage. Following expert restoration, the coach returned to public life in 1976 and is a feature of Dublin's annual

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...

parade.

Notable mayors

*Richard Muton (1229–1230), Dublin's first Mayor *

Gilbert de Lyvet Gilbert de Lyvet (died ca. 1244) was an early Anglo-Norman nobleman and merchant who became one of the earliest Mayors of Dublin. He donated extensive properties to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Dublin, acted as a witness for early gifts ...

(1233–1234, 1235–1237) * John Drake, three times Mayor between 1401 and 1412, who led the Dubliners to victory over the O'Byrne clan of

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

at the Battle of Bloody Bank in 1402 * Bartholomew Ball (1553–1554), whose widow Blessed Margaret Ball was martyred by their eldest son, Walter * Walter Ball (1580–1581), Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes – implemented the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

in Dublin * Francis Taylor (1595–1596), who was incarcerated because of his

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

ism, and has been declared a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

for his faith and

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

by the Catholic Church *Sir Daniel Bellingham (1665–1666), first ''Lord'' Mayor *Jean Desmynieres (1666–1667) and Lewis Desmynieres (1669–1670),

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

Lord Mayors of Dublin * Sir Michael Creagh (1688–1689) who, although a Protestant, was a supporter of the Catholic James II *Sir

Mark Rainsford Sir Mark Rainsford (c. 1652 – November 1709) was an Irish Lord Mayor of Dublin and the owner of what was to later become the Guinness Brewery. Political career Sir Mark Rainsford was Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1700 to 1701. During his term ...

(1700–1701), the original founder of what was to become St James' Gate (Guinness) Brewery *

Daniel O'Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

(1841–1842), leader of campaigns for Catholic Emancipation and

Repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

of the Acts of Union; first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1690 *Sir John Barrington (1865–1866 and 1879–1880), the first

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

to hold the office * Sir Thomas Devereux Pile (1900-1901), the last Unionist to hold office *

Laurence O'Neill Laurence O'Neill (4 March 1864 – 26 July 1943) was an Irish politician and corn merchant who served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1917 to 1924, serving through the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. He refused an offer to act ...

(1917–1924), who was Lord Mayor throughout the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

and the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

Alfie Byrne Alfred Byrne (17 March 1882 – 13 March 1956) was an Irish politician who Records of members of the Oireachtas#Members of both the British Parliament and of the Oireachtas, served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament ...

(1930–1939 and 1954–1955), the longest-serving Lord Mayor of Dublin in the office's 800-year history *

Kathleen Clarke Kathleen Clarke (; ; 12 April 1878 – 29 September 1972) was a founder member of Cumann na mBan, a women's paramilitary organisation formed in Ireland in 1914, and one of very few privy to the plans of the Easter Rising in 1916. She was the w ...

(1939–1941), the first woman in the post * Robert Briscoe (1956–1957 and 1961–1962), the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin * Tomás Mac Giolla (1993–1994), former republican prisoner and long-time leader of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

, and later the Worker's Party of Ireland *

Hazel Chu Hazel Chung-fai Chu (born 3 November 1980) is an Irish Green Party politician who has been a member of Dublin City Council since May 2019. She was chair of the Green Party from December 2019 to December 2021. She was the first Irish-born person ...

(2020–2021), the first person of Chinese ethnicity to be mayor of a European capital

Notes

References

External links

Lord Mayor WebsiteLord Mayors of Dublin 1665–2021
(Dublin City Council) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dublin, Lord Mayor Of Local government in County Dublin History of Dublin (city)