South Dublin County Council

South Dublin County Council Comhairle Contae Baile Átha Cliath Theas
Type
Type	County council
Leadership
Mayor	Fintan Warfield, SF
Structure
Seats	40
Political groups	Sinn Féin (9)      Fine Gael (7)      Fianna Fáil (5)      Labour Party (4)     Anti-Austerity Alliance (3)      People Before Profit (3)      Green Party (1)      Renua Ireland (1)      Independents (7)
Elections
Last election	23 May 2014
Meeting place
County Hall, Tallaght
Website
www.sdcc.ie

The area governed by the council

South Dublin County Council (Irish: Comhairle Contae Baile Átha Cliath Theas) is the authority responsible for local government in the county of South Dublin, Ireland. It is one of three local authorities that comprised the former Dublin County Council before its abolition and one of four councils in the Dublin Region. 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 Mayor. The county administration is headed by a County Manager, Daniel McLoughlin. The county town is Tallaght, with a civic centre at Monastery Road, Clondalkin.^[1] It serves a population of approximately 192,000.

The council is the third largest local authority in Ireland with a population of 265,205 (Census 2011), 90,000 households, and 6,000 businesses, covering an area of 222.74 square kilometres.^[2][3] There are 183,336 local government electors and 174,349 Dáil electors registered to vote in the County Council administrative area.^[4]

Legal status

The Local Government Act 2001 established a two-tier structure of local government. The top tier consists of 29 county councils and five city councils. The bottom tier 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. There are no town councils within the county of Dublin South.

The Local Government Act 1994 defines how an authority may act.^[5] The local authority may provide,

• amenities, facilities and services related to:
  • artistic and cultural activities,
  • sports, games and similar activities,
  • general recreational and leisure activities,
  • civic improvements,
  • environmental and heritage protection and improvement, and
  • the public use of amenities.

It may also act as a library authority.

Governance

Management

The Corporate Policy Group (CPG) consists of the Mayor together with the Chairs of each of the Strategic Policy Committees (SPC). The CPG is supported by the County Manager.^[6] Its function is to co-ordinate the work of the Committees so that policy decisions can be discussed and agreed for recommendation to the full council. "The CPG acts as a sort of Cabinet for the council and is supported by the County Manager."^[7]

Mayor and Deputy Mayor

The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen from among the councillors.^[8]

Strategic Policy Committees

• Development
• Economic Development (including Planning)
• Environment
• Sports, Recreation and Community Affairs
• Arts, Culture, Gaelic, Education and Libraries
• Transportation

Executive management

The County Manager, Joe Horan, was appointed by central government.^[9]

Councillors

For the purpose of elections the county is divided into six local electoral areas, each of which elects between six and eight councillors.

2014 seats summary

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 23 May 2014.^[10]

Changes in affiliation

Polling scheme

For administrative and electoral purposes, the county council organizes Dublin South into a hierarchy of electoral units. These are: Local electoral areas, Polling Districts, District electoral divisions, Townlands, and Polling Places for voting. This hierarchical structure is called a polling scheme. The most recent polling scheme was adopted by the county council on 13 September 2010 and went into operation on 15 February 2011.^[11]

There are four Dáil Constituencies in the county:

• Dublin Mid–West
• Dublin South
• Dublin South–Central
• Dublin South–West

and six Local electoral areas:

• Clondalkin
• Lucan
• Rathfarnham
• Tallaght Central
• Tallaght South
• Templeogue-Terenure

The constituencies and electoral areas are organised as follows:

• Dublin Mid–West constituency contains local electoral areas Clondalkin and Lucan
• Dublin South contains Rathfarnham
• Dublin South–Central contains Clondalkin and Tallaght Central
• Dublin South–West contains Tallaght Central and Tallaght South.

Some overlaps occur: Clondalkin local electoral area occupies parts of two constituencies: Dublin Mid–West and Dublin South–Central. Tallaght Central local electoral area also occupies parts of two constituencies: Dublin South–Central and Dublin South–West.

The following tables illustrate the detailed administrative-electoral county structure, or polling scheme:^[12]

References

External links

• County Council website