Castles in County Kilkenny - Local Government and Politics

Local Government and Politics

See also: Local government in the Republic of Ireland

Local government in County Kilkenny is governed by the Local Government Acts, the most recent of which (Local Government Act 2001) established a two-tier structure of local government. The top tier of the structure consists of Kilkenny County Council. The second tier of local government consists of Kilkenny Borough Council which is a town council. The city of Kilkenny is allowed to use the title of "Borough Council" instead of "Town Council", but Kilkenny Borough Council has no additional responsibilities. Outside the borough, the county council is solely responsible for local services. There are 26 councillors in the county council who are returned from five local electoral areas:Ballyragget, Callan, Kilkenny, Piltown and Thomastown.

As the county is part of the South-East Region, some county councillors are also representatives on the South-East Regional Authority.

For elections to Dáil Éireann, Kilkenny is part of the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency which returns 5 TDs. The present form of the constituency was created for the 1948 general election. Kilkenny has been represented through several parliamentary constituencies in the past. From 1918–1921 Kilkenny was part of the North Kilkenny United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. In 1921 the Carlow–Kilkenny Dáil Éireann constituency was created and has stayed apart from between 1937 and 1948 when there was just a Kilkenny constituency. The TDs serving the area are currently John J. McGuinness, Phil Hogan, Bobby Aylward, M. J. Nolan and Mary White.

Parliamentary constituencies in County Kilkenny Parliament of Ireland to 1800 Callan (????–1800) Gowran (????–1800) Inistioge (????–1800) Knocktopher (????–1800) Kilkenny City (????–1800) Kilkenny County (????–1800) St Canice (1661–1800) Thomastown (????–1800) Westminster 1801–1922 and First Dáil 1918 County Kilkenny (1801–1885) Kilkenny City (1801–1885) North Kilkenny (1885–1922) South Kilkenny (1885–1922) Dáil Éireann 1918–present Carlow–Kilkenny (1921–1937, 1948– ) Kilkenny (1937–1948) European Parliament 1979–present Leinster (1979–2004) East (2004– ) Irish counties: Carlow Cavan Clare Cork Donegal Dublin Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow

Current Parliamentary constituencies in the Republic of Ireland Carlow–Kilkenny Cavan–Monaghan Clare Cork East Cork North–Central Cork North–West Cork South–Central Cork South–West Donegal North–East Donegal South–West Dublin Central Dublin Mid–West Dublin North Dublin North–Central Dublin North–East Dublin North–West Dublin South Dublin South–Central Dublin South–East Dublin South–West Dublin West Dún Laoghaire Galway East Galway West Kerry North–West Limerick Kerry South Kildare North Kildare South Laois–Offaly Limerick Limerick City Longford–Westmeath Louth Mayo Meath East Meath West Roscommon–South Leitrim Sligo–North Leitrim Tipperary North Tipperary South Waterford Wexford Wicklow