| Kilkenny County Council Comhairle Chontae Chill Chainnigh |
|
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | County council |
| Leadership | |
| Cathaoirleach | Catherine Connery, Fine Gael |
| Members | 26 |
| Political groups | Fine Gael (12) Fianna Fáil (7) Labour Party (5) Green Party (1) Independent (1) |
| Elections | |
| Last election | 5 June 2009 |
| Meeting place | |
| County Hall, Kilkenny | |
| Website | |
| www.kilkennycoco.ie | |
Kilkenny County council (Irish: Comhairle Chontae Chill Chainnigh) is the local authority for County Kilkenny in Ireland. The council is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The county council has 26 elected members. Elections are held every 5 years, and are by single transferable vote.
Contents |
This structure is a modified version of the system introduced in 1898, with county boroughs renamed as cities, urban districts and municipal boroughs renamed as towns or boroughs, and rural districts abolished (everywhere except County Dublin in 1925, and in County Dublin in 1930). The distinction between urban district and "towns with town commissioners" has been abolished.
The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 marked the beginning of the system of local government. The first elections were held in Kilkenny until Thursday 6 April 1899 at a cost of £1,268. The first meeting of Kilkenny County Council took place on Saturday 22 April 1899 in the Courthouse, Kilkenny. The very first resolution passed expressed the demand for Home Rule. The Rural District Councils were responsible for housing, sanitary and local roads in their areas, while in their role as Boards of Guardians they were responsible for what we would now call health services.
County Council were responsible for financial affairs, appointments of various committees, maintenance of courthouses and minor services such as food and drug sampling, malicious injuries and other minor services. During the 1960s a range of new services came into the fold – library, fire-fighting, vocational and agricultural services, industrial and commercial issues, and harbour boards. In 1970 the Health Board came into being, taking away responsibility for this service from Kilkenny County Council.
County Council legislation passed in the last 30 years on the Environment included Water Pollution Act 1977 and the Air Pollution Act 1987. Also provision of public amenities, parks and recreational activities and refuse collection was privatised.
In 1989, the Council appointed an Arts Officer. In 2000, as part of a government initiative called "Better Local Government - A Programme for Change", a new structure was introduced to Kilkenny County Council which included five Strategic Policy Committees.
The Local Government Act 2001 established a two-tier structure of local government.The top tier of the structure consists of 29 county councils and five city councils. The second tier of local government consists of town councils. The city of Kilkenny and four towns which had borough corporation status before 2001 (Sligo, Drogheda, Clonmel, and Wexford), are allowed to use the title of "Borough Council" instead of "Town Council", but they have no additional responsibilities. There are 75 other town councils in addition to these five borough councils. Outside the towns the county councils are solely responsible for local services. In addition it was recognised that Kilkenny could continue to be called a city, in spite of being governed by a borough council and not being a former county borough.
Kilkenny County Council has 26 elected councillors. The county is divided into 5 Local Electoral Areas (LEAs), each of which elects between 4–6 councillors. They are: Ballyragget (5), Callan (4), Kilkenny (7), Piltown (6) and Thomastown (4).
The current Mayor is Paul Cuddihy .[1]
Joe Crockett is the County and City Manager, John Dempsey is now responsible for the Ballyragget Electoral Area, Tony Walsh is responsible for the Newrath Electoral Area, John Mulholland is responsible for the Callan Electoral Area, John McCormack is responsible for the Kilkenny Electoral Area and Philip O' Neill is responsible for the Thomastown Electoral Area.
Strategic Policy Committees (SPCs) play a role in decision-making in Kilkenny County Council. Each SPC has a broad representation from across all sectors of Kilkenny and will meet regularly to input into the formulation, development and review of policy within Kilkenny County Council.
| Party | Seats | |
|---|---|---|
| Fine Gael | 12 | |
| Fianna Fáil | 7 | |
| Labour Party | 5 | |
| Green Party | 1 | |
| Independents | 1 | |
This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 5 June 2009.
| Council members from 2009 election[2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Electoral Area | Name | Party | |
| Ballyragget | Maurice Shortall | Labour Party | |
| Mary Hilda Cavanagh | Fine Gael | ||
| Patrick Millea | Fianna Fáil | ||
| John Brennan | Fine Gael | ||
| Catherine Connery | Fine Gael | ||
| Callan | William Ireland | Fine Gael | |
| Patrick Crowley | Independent | ||
| Tom Maher | Fine Gael | ||
| Matt Doran | Fianna Fáil | ||
| Kilkenny | Andrew McGuinness | Fianna Fáil | |
| Malcolm Noonan | Green Party | ||
| Martin Brett | Fine Gael | ||
| Marie Fitzpatrick | Labour Party | ||
| John Coonan | Fianna Fáil | ||
| Betty Manning | Fine Gael | ||
| Paul Cuddihy | Fine Gael | ||
| Piltown | Tomás Breathnach | Labour Party | |
| Pat Dunphy | Fine Gael | ||
| Anne-Maria Irish | Fine Gael | ||
| Eamon Aylward | Fianna Fáil | ||
| Fidelis Doherty | Fine Gael | ||
| Cora Long | Fianna Fáil | ||
| Thomastown | Pat O'Neill | Fine Gael | |
| Ann Phelan | Labour Party | ||
| Michael O'Brien | Labour Party | ||
| Sean Treacy | Fianna Fáil | ||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||