County Waterford - Local Government and Politics

Local Government and Politics

Prior to the enactment of the Local Government Act 2001, the county was a unified whole despite the presence of two local authorities. Since that time, the administrative re-organisation has reduced the geographical extent of the county by the extent of the area under the jurisdiction of Waterford City Council. Today, the geographic extent of the county is limited to the area under the jurisdiction of Waterford County Council. Each local authority ranks equally as first level local administrative units of the NUTS 3 South-East Region for Eurostat purposes. There are 34 LAU 1 entities in the Republic of Ireland. The remit of Waterford County Council includes some suburbs of the city not within the remit of Waterford City Council. Both local authorities are responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing.

The county is part of the South constituency for the purposes of European elections. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is part of two constituencies: Waterford and Tipperary South. Together they return 7 deputies (TDs) to the Dáil. The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009 defines the Waterford constituency as "The county of Waterford, except the part thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Tipperary South; and the city of Waterford."."