The elected council

Each local authority has a council made up of democratically elected representatives from the local area, known as councillors. The council is the policy-making arm of the local authority and meets regularly to debate and vote on policies that shape the way the local authority carries out its work. 

How is the council elected?

Councillors are elected in local elections, which happen every five years. Every local authority area is divided into two or more ‘local electoral areas’. Voters elect councillors from their own electoral area to represent them on their council. 

The number of councillors on each council depends on the population of the local authority area. Depending on the local authority, councils range in size from 18 to 63 member councillors.  There are currently 949 elected councillors in Ireland.

The Cathaoirleach or Mayor

Each year, a new Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) and leas-Cathaoirleach (Vice Chairperson) is elected by councillors.

In some local authorities, the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the council is known as the Mayor or Lord Mayor and Deputy Mayor or Deputy Lord Mayor, instead of a Cathaoirleach and leas-Cathaoirleach.

The role of the chairperson is to chair meetings of the council and attend events on behalf of the council. 

Council meetings 

Decisions are made by elected representatives at council meetings held in the council chambers. There are four types of meetings that local councillors attend:

• Ordinary meetings usually held once a month.
• An annual meeting held in May or June of each year, where the Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) and leas-Cathaoirleach (Vice Chairperson) will be elected, and any other relevant appointments to public bodies, such as a health board or a regional authority, will be made.
• A budget meeting, usually held in November each year.
• A special meeting, held occasionally, when needed.

How to attend a council meeting

If you are interested in what’s going on at a council meeting, or if you would like to attend a meeting yourself, you can access meeting agendas, minutes, and scheduled dates on your local authority website. 

Ordinary council meetings are open to members of the public, which means anyone can attend in person. Some local authorities broadcast council meetings online. To find out how to attend or watch a meeting, visit your local authority website. 

Council decisions 

Policy decisions are made by majority resolutions passed by the elected councillors during council meetings.

The elected council has sole responsibility for certain decisions. These are known as ‘reserved functions’. Reserved functions are set out in legislation and include things like: 

• Passing an annual budget
• Approving county development plans
• Adopting policies on housing and environmental protection
• Adjusting the rate of Local Property Tax (LPT)
• Approving the sale of land owned by the local authority

Under legislation, some decisions must be taken at municipal/metropolitan/borough district level,  some must be taken at plenary council only, and some may be taken at either level.

Municipal districts

Most local authority areas are sub-divided into Municipal Districts (MDs). 

The municipal district members act as a decision-making sub-formation of the overall council for their municipal district area.

The elected council will discuss and vote on policy for the entire local authority area, while the municipal district representatives will decide how policy is implemented at the more local level.

There are 95 municipal districts across the country. Six local authorities (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin, Dublin City, Cork City and Galway City) do not have municipal districts.

Committees

Councils have smaller committees that councillors sit on, including strategic policy committees (SPCs). 

SPCs are made up of elected councillors and representatives from other groups in the local community including business, farming interests, environmental groups, and community members. 

The role of the SPC is to advise and assist councillors in developing and reviewing policy, providing different perspectives from different groups in the area and giving those groups the opportunity to get involved in the policy making process.

There can be several SPCs covering different topics. The chairperson of each SPC is part of a corporate policy group (CPG), feeding back the work of the different SPCs to help inform how the local authority will approach their work, including feeding into the annual budget and the corporate plan for the local authority. 

Regional assemblies

Councils elect members from among their councils to represent at a regional level on regional assemblies. 

Regional assemblies make decisions on EU funding and strategic planning. 

There are three regional assemblies in Ireland: the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly and the Southern Regional Assembly. You can find more details on what they do on the Regional Assemblies page.