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 (chairperson). The current Cathaoirleach is Kevin Callan. The county administration is headed by a chief executive, David Conway. The county town is Dundalk.

History

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

Members of Louth County Council are elected for a five-year term of office on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) from multi-member local electoral areas (LEAs).

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.

2024 seats summary

Councillors by electoral area

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

Chief executive

Each council has a chief executive, previously known as city or county manager, who is the manager of the local authority. 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 (CPG) some weeks in advance of the agenda being agreed. Members of the CPG Team include the elected chairpersons of each Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), 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 (chairperson) 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. The table below sets out the electorate population of the county broken down by Local Electoral Area.

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.

Population by electoral division

The table below sets out the population of the county broken down by electoral division.