South Dublin County Council Placard in Lucan

South Dublin County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Átha Cliath Theas) is the authority responsible for

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-lo ...

in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

South Dublin , image_map = Island of Ireland location map South Dublin.svg , map_caption = Inset showing South Dublin (darkest green in inset) within Dublin Region (lighter green) , area_total_km2 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is one of three local authorities created by the Local Government (Dublin) Act 1993 to succeed the former Dublin County Council before its abolition on 1 January 1994 and one of four councils in County Dublin. As a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...

, it is governed by the

Local Government Act 2001 The Local Government Act 2001 (No. 37) was enacted by the Oireachtas on 21 July 2001 to reform local government in the Republic of Ireland. Most of the provisions of the Act came into operation on 1 January 2002. The act was a restatement and a ...

. The council is responsible for

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and housing authority, assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of Shelter (building), shelter. Housing ensures that members of so ...

and community, roads and

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipel ...

ation,

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water ...

and development, amenity and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...

, and

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. The council has 40 elected members. Elections are held every five years and are by

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

. The head of the council has the title of

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

. The county administration is headed by a Chief Executive, Daniel McLoughlin. The county town is Tallaght, with a civic centre at Monastery Road, Clondalkin. 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. There are 183,336 local government electors and 174,349 Dáil electors registered to vote in the County Council administrative area.

History

South Dublin County Council came into being on 1 January 1994. The county council initially met in the Regional Technical College, Tallaght. A new building, County Hall, was purpose-built for the county council and was completed in 1994.

Legal status

The

established a two-tier structure of local government. The

Local Government Reform Act 2014 The Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1) is an act of the Oireachtas which provided for a major restructuring of local government in Ireland with effect from the 2014 local elections. It merged some first-tier county and city councils, a ...

abolished this two-tier structure in favour of

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

s and two hybrid councils, dubbed ''City and County Councils'' . South Dublin County Council gained an additional 14 seats due to this re-structuring. The Local Government Act 1994 defines how an authority may act. 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. 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."

Mayor and Deputy Mayor

The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen from among the councillors.

Local electoral areas

South Dublin County Council is divided into the following

local electoral area A local electoral area (LEA; ga, Toghlimistéir Áitiúil) is an electoral area for elections to local authorities in Ireland. All elections use the single transferable vote. The Republic of Ireland is divided into 166 LEAs, with an average ...

s, defined by electoral divisions.

Councillors

2019 seats summary

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 24 May 2019.

Co-options

Changes in affiliation

;Notes

Polling scheme

For administrative and electoral purposes, the county council organises Dublin South into a hierarchy of electoral units. These are:

s, polling districts,

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

s, 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. There are four Dáil constituencies in the county: * Dublin Mid-West * Dublin Rathdown * Dublin South-Central * Dublin South-West and seven Local electoral areas: *Clondalkin *Firhouse-Bohernabreena *Lucan *Palmerstown-Fonthill *Rathfarnham-Templeogue *Tallaght Central *Tallaght South The constituencies and electoral areas are organised as follows: *Dublin Mid-West constituency contains local electoral areas Clondalkin, Lucan and Palmerstown-Fonthill *Dublin South contains Rathfarnham-Templeogue and Firhouse-Bohernabreena *Dublin South-Central contains Rathfarnham-Templeogue *Dublin South-West contains Tallaght Central, Tallaght South, Firhouse Bohernabreena and Rathfarnham-Templeogue Some overlaps occur: Rathfarnham-Templeogue local electoral area occupies parts of three constituencies: Dublin South, Dublin South-Central and Dublin South-West. Firhouse-Bohernabreena local electoral area 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:

Controversies

2019 Wetlands Destruction

In 2019, South Dublin County Council sanctioned the mass dumping of silt in a wetlands park which it had previously vowed to protect. A large part of the park's ecosystem was destroyed, buried under several feet of silt which was then leveled with heavy machinery. The destruction enraged environmental groups, who estimated that thousands of animals were buried and killed, including several protected and endangered species. In response, the council confirmed that they would review their silt disposal process, while admitting no wrongdoing.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:South Dublin County Council Local government in County Dublin Politics of South Dublin (county) County councils in the Republic of Ireland