Local government in Ireland

Information

The Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na hEireann) recognises the role of local government in providing democratic representation of local communities. This recognition is set down in Article 28A of Bunreacht na hEireann. This recognition endorses the democratic representative role of local government and guarantees local elections in Ireland at least every five years.

Local government not only represents the people in the local communities, but also perform a number of important functions, including providing services such as water and waste collection to their areas. Local government has therefore both a representational and an operational role, with responsibility for a range of services. It operates through a network of directly elected local authorities which provide, among other things, a forum for the democratic representation of local communities, giving expression to local identity, identifying local concerns and setting local priorities.

To carry out their functions, local authorities are entrusted with certain powers.

Since the Local Government Act 2001, the local authorities have been renamed. There are now county councils and city councils (formerly county borough corporations).

There are also town authorities known as borough councils and town councils (formerly called borough corporations, urban district councils and town commissioners).