Facts and figures for local government in Ireland

While many urge further reforms, the current 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 7,273 square kilometres, Cork County Council is the largest local authority by area and at 49 square kilometres, Galway City Council is the smallest.

SOME FACTS

- In 2024, Ireland celebrates 125 years of local government.

- Ireland is one of most centralised countries of the Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD), with one of the lowest ratios to GDP and public spending among OECD countries, together with Chile, Greece and New Zealand.

- Local authorities own and manage 140,000 homes.

- 20.6% of Irish councillors are women.

COUNCILS AND COUNCILLORS - 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 158,758 (OECD, 2017), 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). Ireland’s local government structure contrasts starkly with the Czech Republic (1,500), France (2,000), Hungary (3,000) and Switzerland (3,500), according to a 2020 study.

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 (including Cork and Tipperary), 3 city councils (Cork, Galway and Dublin), 2 city and county councils (Limerick and Waterford). 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).