EXPLAINER: What does a local council actually do? - Kilkenny Live

On June 7, the Irish public will go to the polls and vote in local elections. But who are you voting for, and what exactly do local councils do in Ireland?

There are 31 councils, or local authorities, in Ireland. Twenty-six of these local authorities are county councils. There are also three city councils, Dublin, Galway and Cork, and two councils that oversee a city and a county, in Limerick and Waterford.
Local councils are managed by a chief executive who oversees the day-to-day running of the council.

Population
There are currently 949 elected councillors across these 31 councils, and the number elected to each local authority depends on the population of the area.

Each councillor holds office for five years, which means councillors elected in the last local election in May 2019 will hold office until 7 days after polling day this year.

The number of members of each local authority is fixed by law, under Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 2001, as amended by Section 15 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014.

Responsibilities on the councils are divided into reserved functions which are entrusted to the elected councillors and executive functions which are taken care of by a team of managers (SHE, 2021). Councillors make policy decisions at council meetings by passing resolutions put forward by members, while the chief executive oversees the day-to-day running of the council.

Your local council is responsible for a range of local services, including housing, roads, recreation and amenities, planning, libraries, environmental protection, fire services and the register of electors. However local councils are limited in what they can do, even in the areas listed above.

Report
A report from The Council of Europe in October last year stated that Ireland has one of the most centralised democracies in Europe, ranking just above Hungary, the Russian Federation and Moldova.

This means councillors here have fewer powers than in almost every other country and have limited revenue-raising and spending powers.

The report by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE) recommended that more powers and responsibilities should be devolved to local and regional authorities and delegate financial resources to the local and regional levels.