Future Local Lab
Local Government Explained
Local government facts and figures: Ireland
Quick facts
- Today’s local government structure came into effect in 2014, under the provisions of the Local Government Reform Act 2014.
- Following the 2022 census Leitrim County Council is the local authority with the smallest population, with 35 087 people, while Dublin City has the largest at 588 233 people.
- At 7273 square kilometres, Cork County Council is the largest local authority by area, and at 49 square kilometres, Galway City Council is the smallest.
- In 2024, Ireland celebrated 125 years of the local government.
- Ireland is one of the most centralised countries of the OECD, with one of the lowest ratios to GDP and public spending among OECD countries, together with Chile, Greece and New Zealand. It also ranks bottom of the EU’s decentralisation index.
- The 28th amendment of the Irish Constitution provides legal recognition to local government.
- Local authorities own and manage 143,000 homes.
- Only 25.9% of Irish councillors are women.
- Ireland’s youngest Mayor is Waterford’s Adam Wyse, who was elected Mayor in 2012 at 22 years old.
How is local government structured?
In Ireland, local authorities in Ireland operate within specific geographic areas called local government areas. Each local government area has a council.
Given Ireland’s average population per council of 166,096 (Irish Census 2022) Ireland finds itself in a group of countries with large local authority jurisdictions. Similar to the United Kingdom (166,000), Northern Ireland (164,500) and Korea (224,500), Quinlivan (2020) finds that Ireland’s local government structure contrasts starkly with countries such as the Czech Republic (1,500), France (2,000), Hungary (3,000) and Switzerland (3,500).
With the exception of local authorities in the counties of Fingal, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin, and the cities of Dublin, Galway and Cork, all local government areas are subdivided into municipal districts. Councillors simultaneously represent the municipal district and the local authority.
There are 31 councils in Ireland, consisting of
- 26 county councils
- 3 city councils
- 2 city and county councils.
Within these, there are 95 municipal districts.
Irish local authorities’ role as public employers is very low, with staff spending representing 30% of their expenditure. However, local authorities represent significant public investors, carrying out more than half of public investment. Investment is one of their main functions, even though they often act on behalf of the central government to implement national investment programmes (OECD 2016).
Find out more about the system of local government in Ireland and why people are urging reform here.
What do councils do?
Local authorities in Ireland are responsible for the provision of public services and facilities such as housing, planning, roads, environmental protection, fire services, and maintaining the electoral register.
Councils also play a significant part in supporting economic development and enterprise at a local level.
What do councillors do?
Outside of the Oireachtas, Ireland’s National Parliament, local authorities are the only bodies whose members are elected by direct vote of the Irish electorate. There are 949 councillors in Ireland, who are elected in local government elections every five years. The number of member councillors in councils ranges from 18 to 63, depending on the local authority.
Councillors have both a legislative/policy role and an advocacy/representative role:
- Legislative/policy – councillors are responsible for the formulation of policy (but generally not implementation which is the mandate of the chief executive)
- Advocacy/representative – councillors represent their constituents, who are residents and groups within their ward. They meet with them and address the issues that they raise through advocacy.
Each councillor attends meetings of the full council and the local authority committees of which they are members.
What is the full role of an Irish Councillor? Read this special LGIU Ireland briefing to find out how the role of the Irish councillor has changed.
What other roles are there on a council?
Cathaoirleach
On a yearly basis, each local authority elects, from within its councillors, a chair for a term of one year. In most local authorities this person is called the Cathaoirleach, but in Limerick City and County Council, Waterford City and County Council and Galway City Council they are called the Mayor, and in Cork and Dublin City Councils they are called the Lord Mayor. As first citizen of the county/city, Section 31 of the Local Government Act (2001), outlines the Cathaoirleach’s duties,
- Chairing council meetings.
- Exercising a casting vote in instances where is an equal division of votes on an issue.
- Representing the council at public and ceremonial events.
Leas-Cathaoirleach
The Cathaoirleach’s number two. This position can be called Deputy Mayor or Deputy Lord Mayor depending on the council they are in.
Chief Executive
Every local authority has a chief executive who is employed to manage their local authority. Appointed to office for a seven-year term, with an option for a three-year extension, the chief executive is in charge of making the following decisions,
- Supervising, managing and paying the employees and officers.
- Making contracts on behalf of the council.
- Affixing the official seal of the council on documents.
Deputy Chief Executive
Not all councils have one of these. A Chief Executive can appoint a deputy, upon consultation with the Cathaoirleach, to act on their behalf while they are absent.
How many people work for local government in Ireland?
As of 2025, there were around 31,984 local government employees in Ireland.
How is local government in Ireland financed?
Local Government Fund (LGF)
A central fund which finances part of the expenditure of local authorities. In 2025, this totalled 47% of income. This fund comes from three primary sources: local property tax revenues, motor tax revenues and payments from the Exchequer (the Government’s central fund).
Taxation
Local Property Tax (LPT) – A self-assessed charge on the market value of residential properties retained locally by local authorities; this comprised 7% of funding in 2025.
Commercial rates – Councils are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on properties in their authority area which are used for commercial purposes. In 2025, this provided 25% of revenue budgeted income.
Charges for goods and services
Councils can receive payment for the services which they provide, such as housing rents, waste charges, parking charges, planning application fees. In the majority of cases the fee is set locally, although some may be fixed at national level. In 2025, this provided 21% of revenue budgeted income.
Specific state grants
These are paid to councils by various government departments in respect of particular services and schemes, such as housing and road maintenance.
How much do councils spend and on what?
Ireland’s Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage budget allocation for 2025 is €8bn and the estimated Local Authority Capital expenditure for 2025 is €7.42bn. On housing the total Exchequer funding available in 2025 is €4.82bn, comprising Capital €3.18bn and Current €1.64bn. This looks like a 17% increase over last year. The budgetary figures on housing are directly repeated here to ensure accuracy.
In 2024, Irish local authorities planned to spend €7.4bn. This revenue income was split between government grants (45%), goods/services (22%), commercial rates (25%) and local property tax (7%).
Of this, the major components were as follows:
- Housing – € 3.07bn
- Roads – €1.4bn
- Environmental – €966m
- Recreation – €689m
- Development- €751m
- Water – €407m
- Agriculture, Education, Health & Welfare – €56m
- Miscellaneous Services – €478m
How did local government in Ireland evolve?
Counties are historical administrative divisions that now form the basis for Irish local governments. Beginning as Norman structures in the 12th century, the last county shired in Ireland was County Wicklow in 1625. With the county forming the level for administration, justice and revenue collection, the Grand Jury Act of 1836 cemented the use of counties as units for local government. Sixty years later, the Local Government Act 1898 witnessed a radical reorganisation of local government, with a county council for each of the 33 Irish administrative counties. Following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and the partitioning between Southern and Northern Ireland, Irish local governance compromised 26 counties and 4 county boroughs.
Whilst the 1937 Irish constitution lacked any reference to local government, the 2001 twentieth amendment of the Constitution Act 2001 outlined,
- The State recognises the role of local government in providing a forum for the democratic representation of local communities, in exercising and performing at local level powers and functions conferred by law and in promoting by its initiatives the interests of such communities.
- There shall be such directly elected local authorities as may be determined by law and their powers and functions shall, subject to the provisions of this Constitution, be so determined and shall be exercised and performed in accordance with law.
- Elections for members of such local authorities shall be held in accordance with law not later than the end of the fifth year after the year in which they were last held.
- Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann and such other persons as may be determined by law shall have the right to vote at an election for members of such of the local authorities referred to in section 2 of this Article as shall be determined by law.
- Casual vacancies in the membership of local authorities referred to in section 2 of this Article shall be filled in accordance with law.
For more on the important role of local government in Ireland, check out this piece by Dr. Seán Ó’Riordáin.
Key legislation in Ireland
What changed under the reforms?
Section 54 deals with the role of the Chief Executives. The main change centres on the ability for councillors to veto the Public Appointments Service recommendation for a Chief Executive.
The number of councils was reduced from 114 to 31, due to the abolition of town councils.
The number of councillors was reduced from 1,627 to 949.
Counties were divided into “municipal districts” and county councillors also became district councillors.
Waterford City Council and Waterford County Council were merged and became Waterford City and County Council.
Limerick City Council and Limerick County Council were merged and became Limerick City and County Council.
North Tipperary County Council and South Tipperary County Council were merged and became Tipperary County Council.
Councillors lost the power to overturn planning decisions.
The property tax became a source of income for local authorities.
What changed?
In accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act 2019, the 24th May 2019 saw plebiscites on proposals for a directly elected mayor with executive functions in the local authority areas of Cork City Council; Limerick City and County Council; and Waterford City and County Council.
The proposal for a directly elected mayor was passed in Limerick City and County Council by a margin of 52.4% (38,122 votes in favour) to 47.6% (34,573 votes against) but rejected in Cork and Waterford.
In 2021, the Irish Government approved draft legislation for the role of a directly elected mayor for Limerick City and County with Executive responsibilities.
The Irish Government also decided that the directly elected mayor would have many of the executive functions currently held by the local authority’s Chief Executive. These areas include: housing and building, road transport and safety, strategic development, and environmental services.
Further proposals include,
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- The directly elected mayor being empowered to develop a ‘Programme for Local Government in Limerick’, a programme setting out the mayor’s vision and ambitions for Limerick, for approval by the elected council.
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- The mayor being responsible for drafting the local authority’s annual budget for approval by the elected council.
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- The Chief Executive (to be re-named a ‘Director General’) retaining responsibility for functions such as managing and accounting for the council’s finances.
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- The elected council retaining its reserved functions.
For more information, read the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage’s report on implementing directly elected mayors.
Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023
On the 25th of July 2023, the cabinet gave approval for the Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell, to publish draft legislation to deliver the Programme for Government commitment for a directly elected mayor with executive functions for Limerick.
John Moran was elected Mayor for Limerick and was inaugurated on the 21st of June 2024 the first directly elected head of local government in Ireland.
Key provisions include:
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- Revised structures for local government in Limerick. Instead of the current ‘two-pillar’ structure, with the elected council and the chief executive performing the functions of Limerick City and County Council, under the new arrangements, there will be a ‘three-pillar’ structure composed of the Director General, directly elected Mayor and elected Council.
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- Election of mayor. The term of office is for five years, to coincide with the term of elected councillors, and the mayor will be limited to a maximum of two terms
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- Transfer of executive functions. Strategic development, housing and building, environmental services.
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- New structures and functions for the mayor. Paid just under €152,000 per year, have a staff of up to five people or four if they wish to appoint their own special advisor
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- Director General functions as head of administrative duties.
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- Plebiscites on direct election of mayors in other areas. If a council approves a proposal to hold one, if there is a petition signed by 20% of voters in a local authority area or if the minster directs that a vote be held
Time will tell, but a profound impact will only be made if the incoming Mayor is allowed to genuinely influence non-local government services such as crime, education and water. However there have been reports of conflict between the Mayor and councillors, which may undermine the progress which the mayor can make.
LGiU Ireland has analysed the the full implications of the legislation in a special report.
Find out more about LGIU in Ireland
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