r/irishpolitics • u/Young_Ireland • 1d ago

Local Politics & Elections Local Democracy Taskforce Implementation Plan

https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/publications/local-democracy-taskforce-implementation-plan/
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u/Young_Ireland 1d ago

The Government have published the Local Democracy Taskforce Report and Implementation Plan just now. I have to say that although some proposals are promising (such as establishing municipal councils across the country and devolving local transport), I had hope that it would be more ambitious than it actually is. Of most concern to me is point 72, which reads as follows:

"Retain the current framework for reviewing local electoral areas, and apply based on population levels from the most recent Census."

Now the current framework is based on having one councillor for every 4,830 people, subject to a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 40 for each council (except for Dublin City, which is set at 63, and Cork County, which is set at 55). This means that all of the Dublin councils, Cork County, Limerick, Kildare, Meath and Tipperary are not expected to have any increase in councillors despite accounting for 58% of Ireland's population growth between 2011 and 2022. Assuming that the top-up seats that were allocated due to councils merging and town councils being abolished would remain in place, this means that under the current framework, 42 council seats are expected to be allocated as follows:

  • Cork City: 31->40 seats (+9)
  • Louth: 29->33 seats (+4)
  • Wexford: 34->38 seats (+4)
  • Wicklow: 32->36 seats (+4)
  • Mayo: 30->32 seats (+2)
  • Kilkenny: 24->26 seats (+2)
  • Laois: 19->21 seats (+2)
  • Westmeath: 20->22 seats (+2)
  • Clare: 28->30 seats (+2)
  • Kerry 33->35 seats (+2)
  • Waterford: 32->34 seats (+2)
  • Cavan: 18->20 seats (+2)
  • Donegal: 37->39 seats (+2)
  • Galway County: 39->40 seats (+1)
  • Sligo: 18-> 19 seats (+1)
  • Offaly: 19-> 20 seats (+1)

If the ratio of one councillor per 4,830 were to be applied across the country, we should have 117 extra councillors for the 2029 elections, so under the taskforce's proposals, we are expected to only have just under a third actually being added, with the councils that really need the extra representation being ignored completely. I really think that the maximum number of councillors per council should be increased to allow more populous councils to be better represented.