Map of 2019 Dublin city council election

A local electoral area (LEA; ) is an electoral area for elections to local authorities in Ireland. All

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

use the

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

is divided into 166 LEAs, with an average population of 28,700 and average area of . The boundaries of LEAs are determined by order of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, usually based on lower-level units called

electoral division An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

s (EDs), with a total of 3,440 EDs in the state. As well as their use for electoral purposes, LEAs are local administrative units in

Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...

NUTS classification. They are used in local numbers of cases of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Municipal districts

A municipal district () is a division of a local authority which can exercise certain powers of the local authority. They came into being on 1 June 2014, ten days after the local elections, under the provisions of the Local Government Reform Act 2014. Of the 31 local authorities, 25 are subdivided into municipal districts, which comprise one or more LEA. The exceptions are the three city councils (

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

, Dublin City and Galway City) and the three county councils in Dublin (

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown () is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished in 1994. It is named after the former ...

Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which ...

and

South Dublin South Dublin () is a county in Ireland, within the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. South Dublin Cou ...

). A district associated with a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

is termed a metropolitan district (''ceantar cathrach'') or borough district (''ceantar buirge'') respectively. In 2019,

John Paul Phelan John Paul Phelan (born 27 September 1978) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency from 2011 to 2024. He previously served as Minister of State for Local Government and E ...

, Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform, commented in the Dáil:

Boundary changes

Boundaries for local electoral areas and municipal district are determined by statutory instrument of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Minister must first request the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

to prepare a report. The minister must have regard to this report in making any changes. Prior to the establishment of the Electoral Commission in 2023, recommendations on local electoral boundary changes were made by an independent boundary committee established for that purpose. A boundary committee has been required since 1994 for electoral areas. The 2012–13 Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee considered both administrative areas (municipal districts, though not counties/cities) and electoral areas. In 2015, separate committees were set up to consider adjustments to county and municipal boundaries passing through each of four urban areas:

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

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 ...

, and

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. A Boundary Committee established in 2017 and which reported in June 2018 recommended alterations to municipal districts and local electoral areas which were implemented in December 2018.

Current LEAs

Below are the districts and local electoral areas as defined by the most recent SI in each case and which were used at the 2019 local elections. The minister ultimately did not alter the areas for the 2024 local elections. Unless otherwise specified, districts are titled "Municipal District of Carlow", etc.

References

External links

* {{Local government in the Republic of Ireland, state=collapsed Council elections in the Republic of Ireland Electoral areas in the Republic of Ireland Local government in the Republic of Ireland

Subdivisions of the Republic of Ireland

Municipal districts

Boundary changes

Current LEAs

See also

References

External links