Louth County Council


Louth County Council is the local authority of County Louth, 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 29 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 current Cathaoirleach is Kevin Callan. The county administration is headed by a chief executive, David Conway. The county town is Dundalk.
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History

Louth County Council was established on 1 April 1899 under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 for the administrative county of County Louth, succeeding the judicial county of Louth and the judicial county of the town of Drogheda.
Originally meetings of Louth County Council took place in Dundalk Courthouse. A home for the county officials was subsequently established at County Buildings in Crowe Street and both the county council and its officials moved to County Hall in 2000. Up until then administration services in Dundalk were separated into two different buildings, the former Louth Infirmary at The Crescent and in Crowe Street. This rationalisation streamlined services in one building.
Both the crests of Dundalk and County Louth reference the legend of Táin Bó Cúailnge. Louth traces its name from the Celtic god Lú. According to one interpretation of The Táin, Lú's son is the warrior Cú Chulainn, who it is claimed was born in near Dundalk, hence the fates of Dundalk and Louth are always linked together.

Regional Assembly

Louth County Council has two representatives on the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly who are part of the Eastern Strategic Planning Area Committee.

Elections

The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919 introduced the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote for the 1920 Irish local elections. This electoral system has been retained. The 29 members of Louth County Council are elected for a five-year term of office from multi-member local electoral areas.

Local electoral areas and municipal districts

County Louth is divided into borough and municipal districts and LEAs, defined by electoral divisions. The municipal district which contains the administrative area of the former borough of Drogheda is referred to as a Borough District.
Councillors have regular monthly meetings both as a whole council and within their municipal district. Each municipal district elects its own chair, titled a Cathaoirleach.

Councillors

The following were elected at the 2024 Louth County Council election.

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 7 June 2024.
;Notes

Chief executive

Each council has a chief executive, previously known as city or county manager, who is the manager of the local authority.
YearTitleNameNext position
2024–presentChief ExecutiveDavid Conway
2014–2024Chief executiveJoan Martin
2013–2014County ManagerPhilomena PooleCounty manager for Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council
2012–2013Acting County ManagerJoan Martin
2007–2012County ManagerConn MurrayCity and County Manager for Limerick Council

Each Chief Executive has a Management Team made up of appointed Directors of Service who head specified Directorates. Under a provision of the Local Government Act the elected members must vote confidence in a new chief executive and also have the power to remove one from office. The Cathaoirleach chairs each monthly meeting as well as meetings of the Corporate Policy Group some weeks in advance of the agenda being agreed. Members of the CPG Team include the elected chairpersons of each Strategic Policy Committee, the Directors of Service and the Meetings Administrator. There are five SPC chairpersons in Louth County Council and Directors of Service serve on each with an agreed workplan. There is also an Audit Committee on which two members are elected to serve together with three appointed members, one of whom will be the independent chairperson. The Audit Committee must always remain independent from the council though publishes minutes and an agreed workplan. The LCDC, made up of four elected members, the Chief Executive of the day, several Directors of Service, several staff members and appointed members from various sectoral interests is similar to a SPC in nature, in actual statute, but does not publish or agree its workplan with the elected members or be scrutinised by the Audit Committee despite having a considerable financial budget.

Cathaoirleach of the council

Every year, the local authority elects a chair called the Cathaoirleach for a term of one year and a deputy chair called the Leas-Cathaoirleach from among its members. The members elected for each municipal district elect a Cathaoirleach and a Leas-Chathaoirleach for their grouping. The Cathaoirleach chairs the meetings of the local authority or municipal district. Mayor and Deputy Mayor are titles used in municipal districts which were formerly borough councils. Based on population the Dundalk Municipal District is the largest in the state, comprising 13 elected members, but is not designated as a borough district. Following the 2014 legislation it was an option for Dundalk to be also recognised as a borough district on the equivalent standing as her sister town of Drogheda on the legislation drawn up by then Minister for Local Government John Paul Phelan. Despite requests this was not taken up.

Population by local electoral area

The table below sets out the population of the county broken down by Local Electoral Area, total 2022 population of 139,703.
LEAPopulation Population SeatsPopulation per seat
Drogheda Rural17,87619,84544,961
Drogheda Urban27,65628,53764,756
Dundalk South30,20738,19575,457
Dundalk Carlingford25,59926,09264,349
Ardee29,02627,03464,506

The table below sets out the electorate population of the county broken down by Local Electoral Area.
LEAElectorate SeatsElectorate per seat
Drogheda Rural14,13343,533
Drogheda Urban19,72963,288
Dundalk South25,69173,670
Dundalk Carlingford20,03963,339
Ardee19,92863,321

Population by municipal district

The table below sets out the population of the county broken down by Municipal District, total 2022 population of 139,703.
DistrictPopulation Population Population SeatsPopulation per seat
Dundalk53,08255,80664,287134,945
Drogheda41,92544,05248,382104,838
Ardee27,89029,02627,03464,506

Population by electoral division

The table below sets out the population of the county broken down by electoral division.
Electoral DivisionPopulation Population Population
Louth111,267122,897128,375
Dundalk 51,75856,76159,557
Dundalk Town29,03731,14932,288
004 Dundalk Urban No. 12,1902,1482,169
005 Dundalk Urban No. 21,2111,1691,140
006 Dundalk Urban No. 31,4001,4491,710
007 Dundalk Urban No. 46,1836,0395,970
023 Castletown 2,5182,6372,685
027 Dundalk Rural 15,44017,62018,514
030 Haggardstown 9587100
Dundalk rural area22,72125,61227,269
019 Ballymascanlan2,0162,2132,206
020 Barronstown647744746
021 Carlingford1,3841,8012,201
022 Castlering9351,0121,034
023 Castletown 1,4211,5731,622
024 Creggan Upper684787852
025 Darver562568678
026 Drummullagh1,1201,2571,350
027 Dundalk Rural 535540686
028 Faughart905991958
029 Greenore9791,1691,201
030 Haggardstown 5,7696,3036,819
031 Jenkinstown9481,1731,277
032 Killanny683799825
033 Louth1,3081,5051,575
034 Mansfieldstown640807855
035 Rathcor1,2031,3521,374
036 Ravensdale9821,0181,010
Drogheda Borough28,97328,57629,471
001 Fair Gate9,7839,80610,317
002 St. Laurence Gate3,8014,0044,075
003 West Gate5,8996,0426,284
041 St. Peter's 3,4602,1612,099
047 St. Mary's 6,0306,5636,696
Ardee No. 1 rural area17,97620,26220,924
008 Ardee Rural2,6262,8752,952
009 Ardee Urban4,3014,5544,917
010 Castlebellingham1,3711,6171,688
011 Clonkeen545648675
012 Collon1,3801,7701,859
013 Dromin535610629
014 Dromiskin1,9352,1872,226
015 Drumcar1,3851,5261,451
016 Dunleer2,3402,7962,868
017 Stabannan590620619
018 Tallanstown9681,0591,040
Louth rural area12,56017,29818,423
037 Clogher2,4943,0313,237
038 Dysart777918925
039 Monasterboice1,1641,3421,365
040 Mullary1,5281,7231,754
041 St. Peter's 4,0226,9907,605
042 Termonfeckin2,5753,2943,537