Kilkenny County Council

Kilkenny County Council Comhairle Chontae Chill Chainnigh
Type
Type	County council
Leadership
Cathaoirleach	Pat Dunphy, FG
Structure
Seats	26
Political groups	Fine Gael (13)      Fianna Fáil (7)      Labour Party (5)      Green Party (1)
Elections
Last election	5 June 2009
Meeting place
County Hall, Kilkenny
Website
www.kilkennycoco.ie

The area governed by the council

Kilkenny County Council (Irish: Comhairle Chontae Chill Chainnigh) is the authority responsible for local government in County Kilkenny, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and development, amenity and culture, and environment. The council has 26 elected members. Elections are held every five years and are by single transferable vote. The head of the council has the title of Cathaoirleach (Chairperson). The county administration is headed by a County Manager, Joe Crockett. The county town is Kilkenny city.

History

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 Councils 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 other towns ^[1] that had borough corporation status before 2001 are allowed to use the title of "Borough Council" instead of "Town Council", but they have no additional responsibilities. Outside the towns, the county council is solely responsible for local services. In addition, Kilkenny was given the privilege of continuing to style itself a city, despite being governed by a borough council and not being a former county borough.

Structure

Joe Crockett is the County and City manager.

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.

Councillors

The Council has 26 elected councillors. For the purpose of elections the county is divided into five local electoral areas: Ballyragget (5), Callan (4), Kilkenny (7), Piltown (6) and Thomastown (4).^[2]

2009 Seats summary

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 5 June 2009.

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

Co-options

Changes in affiliation

References

Sources

• Tom Boyle and Michael O'Dwyer. Kilkenny County Council: A Century of Local Government. Kilkenny: Kilkenny County Council, 1999.

External links

• Official website