Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath
Type
Type	City council
Leadership
Lord Mayor	Oisín Quinn, Lab
Structure
Seats	52
Political groups	Labour Party (19)      Fine Gael (12)      Fianna Fáil (6)      Sinn Féin (5)      PBPA (2)      Éirígí (1)      Independents (7)
Elections
Last election	5 June 2009
Meeting place
Dublin City Hall
Website
www.dublincity.ie

Dublin City Council (Irish: Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council was known as "Dublin Corporation". The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and development, amenity and culture, and environment. The council has 52 elected members and is the largest local council in Ireland. Elections are held every five years and are by single transferable vote. The head of the council has the honorific title of Lord Mayor. The city administration is headed by a City Manager, John Tierney. The council meets at City Hall, Dublin.

Legal status

As part of the Dublin Region, Dublin City Council is within the geographic remit of the Dublin Regional Authority. Following the enactment of the Local Government Act 2001, the Regional Authority was established.^[1] It is one of eight such Authorities in the state. Local government in the region was further regulated by the Local Government Act 1994. This provided for the legal establishment of the following local government administrative areas:

• Fingal
• South Dublin
• Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown

and also recognised the extant Dublin Corporation area, vesting its powers in a renamed entity – Dublin City Council. The statutory instrument giving effect to the Act came into force on 1 January 1994.^[2] The instrument also provided for the abolition of Dublin County Council – the entity that had previously had responsibility for Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. The four entities collectively comprise the former entity known as County Dublin. This entity, which had been created after the Norman invasion of Ireland, was abolished under the Acts.

Statutory functions

The functions of the City Council include: Public Housing, Library Services, Refuse Services, Drainage, Driver and Vehicle Licencing, Planning and Roads. The Council budgeted to spend €847,137,522 during 2007 in service of these functions. 50.5% of this went towards the payroll of the Council's staff which was a reduction from 50.7% in 2006. In the case of Traffic Management, the Council receives grants from the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and also the National Roads Authority to assist it in meeting this responsibility. The 2007 roads budget was just over €105,000,000, to support maintenance of all roads in its functional area.

History

The area governed by the council

Prior to 1841, the administrative and governmental system of Dublin, known as Dublin Corporation, was bicameral having an assembly of called the "House of Aldermen" and another called the "House of Sheriffs and Commons". Under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840, they were replaced by a unicameral assembly. The new name Dublin City Council was coined for the unicameral assembly. The Lord Mayor of Dublin presided over the assembly. This office which had existed since 1665. The first City Council was elected in October 1841 when Daniel O'Connell became the first Lord Mayor. Since 1 January 2002, the functions of local government have been transferred to Dublin City Council.^[3] In 1994, Dublin County Council and the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire were abolished^[4] but this had no impact on the city council. To coincide with its name change, the City Council adopted a new logo and brand identity, based on a simplified version of the ancient "three castles" symbol.

Structures

Executive power is shared between the council and an appointed executive official known as the City Manager. The Manager is responsible for a staff of 6,200. The offices of the Manager and other administrative staff are based in the Civic Offices on Wood Quay. The Lord Mayor of Dublin acts as chair of the Council is the ceremonial head of the city government.

Representative power is vested in the city assembly which consists of 52 members. Members are elected using Proportional representation using the Single transferable vote, every five years from Dublin City Council local electoral areas. The City Council meets in plenary session on the first Monday of every month in Dublin City Hall. One of the Council's most important roles is that of passing an annual budget. Should any Irish council fail to pass a budget within the allotted time, the Minister for the Environment is empowered to abolish it and grant its powers to a commissioner until the next scheduled council elections.

Councillors

The Mansion House.
Official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin.

The Council currently consists of:

^†Nineteen Labour, seven Sinn Féin and six Independent councillors were elected in the 2009 local elections. However, two Sinn Féin Councillors, Christy Burke and Louise Minihan, resigned from the party in 2009 with Burke sitting on the council as an independent and Minihan joining Éirígí, and a third, Killian Forde, resigned in January 2010 to join the Labour Party. Following Forde's resignation from the council, the seat reverted to Sinn Féin.^[5]

For the purposes of elections the city is divided into eleven local electoral areas each of which elects between 4 and 6 councillors. The electoral areas used for the last local elections were:

Dublin City Council must by law at least once in every ten years, following consultation with the returning officer for Dáil elections in respect of each constituency within its area, establish a polling district containing a polling place. This is call the Polling Scheme which lists each constituency with its Local electoral areas, polling districts and polling places.

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 5 June 2009.^[6]

^†Replaced during term, see table below for details.
^‡Changed party, see table below for details.

Co-options

Changes in affiliation

Council buildings

The Civic Offices, Wood Quay
Executive and administrative offices.

The Lord Mayor's official residence is the Mansion House, which first became the residence of the Lord Mayor in 1715.

Council meetings take place in the headquarters at Dublin City Hall. Formerly Royal Exchange, the City Hall is one of Dublin's finest buildings and located on Dame Street. It was built in 1769–79 to the winning design of Thomas Cooley. In an architectural competition, James Gandon was the runner-up with a scheme that many people favoured. The building was taken over for city government use in the 1850s.

Much of the council's administrative staff are based in the Civic Offices on Wood Quay. These offices were built in 1979–80 on top of what had been one of the best preserved Viking sites in the world. The Corporation's (as it was then) decision to bulldoze the historic site proved one of the most controversial in modern Irish history, with thousands of people, including medieval historian Fr. F. X. Martin and Senator Mary Robinson (later President of Ireland) marching to try to stop the destruction. The destruction of the site on Wood Quay and the building of a set of offices known as The Bunkers (being a prime example of Brutalist architecture) is generally seen as one of the most disastrous acts against Ireland's heritage since independence, with even Dublin Corporation admitting subsequently that it was ashamed of its action. Originally, there were to be four of these 'bunkers' built but only two were ever completed. Instead the river frontage is a block designed by the firm Scott Tallon Walker. Completed in 1994, it boasts a leafy atrium and fine views from many of its offices.

References

External links

• Official website
• Full list of Councillors
• Local Government Act, 2001
• History of Dublin City Council
• Podcast about the history of local government in Dublin