South Dublin County Council


South Dublin County Council 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 40 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 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, 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

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 Local Government Act 2001 established a two-tier structure of local government. The top tier consisted of 29 county councils and five city councils. The bottom tier consisted of town councils. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 abolished this two-tier structure in favour of city councils, county councils 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,
It may also act as a library authority.

Governance

Management

The Corporate Policy Group consists of the Mayor together with the Chairs of each of the Strategic Policy Committees. 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.

Councillors

For the purpose of elections the county is divided into seven local electoral areas, each of which elects between five and seven councillors.
AreaSeats
Clondalkin7
Firhouse–Bohernabreena5
Lucan5
Palmerstown–Fonthill5
Rathfarnham–Templeogue7
Tallaght Central6
Tallaght South5

2019 seats summary

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 24 May 2019.
†Replaced during term, see [|table] below for details.
Co-options

Polling scheme

For administrative and electoral purposes, the county council organises 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.
There are four Dáil constituencies in the county:
and seven Local electoral areas:
The constituencies and electoral areas are organised as follows:
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.