Mayo County Council


Mayo County Council is the authority responsible for local government in County Mayo, 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 30 elected members. Elections are held every five years and are by single transferable vote. The head of the council has the title of Cathaoirleach. The county administration is headed by a Chief Executive, Peter Duggan. The county town is Castlebar.

History

Originally meetings of Mayo County Council took place in Castlebar Courthouse. The county council moved to modern facilities at County Hall further west on The Mall in Castlebar in 1989.
In the early 1930s, the County Council was dissolved for a time and replaced with a Commissioner because of the Mayo librarian controversy.

Councillors

For the purpose of local elections, the county is divided into six local election areas, each centred around a major town. Each LEA elects a number of councillors who then represent the area for a span of 5 years on the County Council. The number of councillors allotted to an LEA is based on its population. The total number of councillors amounts to 30.
Local Election AreaNumber of Councillors
Castlebar7
Ballina6
Westport4
Belmullet3
Claremorris6
Swinford4

2019 seats summary

Councillors by electoral area

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

Assessment

Mayo County Council was identified in 2011 by An Taisce, the national trust, as among the worst county councils in Ireland's planning system during the period 2000–11.
County councils in Ireland were assessed by the organisation in relation to overzoning; decisions reversed by An Bord Pleanála after being passed by a local authority; percentage of vacant housing stock; and percentage of one-off houses permitted. An Taisce's report of its findings described the results as "stark and troubling".
In Mayo, many council planning decisions were overturned because the council violated their own County Development Plan. Overdevelopment in Mayo was another problem identified, with too many vacant houses in the county. A spokesman for An Taisce commented, "Mayo didn’t do well on one-off houses either. What a lot of local authorities don’t seem to appreciate is that it is more expensive to provide infrastructure to one-off houses in the countryside than it is to do so to estates."