Fingal County Council

Fingal County Council (Comhairle Contae Fhine Gall) is the local authority of the county of Fingal, Ireland. It is one of three local authorities that succeeded the former Dublin County Council on abolition on 1 January 1994 and is one of four local authorities in County Dublin. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transport, urban planning and development, amenity and culture, and environment. The council has 40 elected members. Elections are held every five years on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). The head of the council has the title of Mayor. The county administration is headed by a chief executive, AnnMarie Farrelly. The county town is Swords.

History
The council of the electoral county of Dublin—Fingal was established in 1985 with 24 members. Its members also sat as members of Dublin County Council. At the 1991 local election, the electoral county was renamed Fingal.

On 1 January 1994, under the Local Government (Dublin) Act 1993, County Dublin ceased to exist with the new county Fingal where the electoral county had been. Dublin County Council also ceased to exist and Fingal County Council came into being.

The county council initially met at the former offices of the abolished Dublin County Council, an office block at 46–49 O'Connell Street, Dublin. A new building, known as County Hall, located on Main Street in Swords, was purpose-built for the county council and completed in 2000.

The Local Government Act 2001 reformed the two-tier structure of local government. It confirmed the size of the council as 24 members.

The town council of Balbriggan was dissolved under the Local Government Reform Act 2014. Fingal County Council became the successor body of the town council. Under the same legislation, the size of the council was increased to 40 members as part of a nationwide reallocation of local authority membership numbers.

Administrative area
The county of Fingal covers an area of 456 km2 and has 88 km of coastline stretching from Sutton in the south to Balbriggan in the north. It is drained by the Delvin River along its northern boundary, the Ballyboghil River and the Broadmeadow River and its major tributary, the Ward in the centre, and the Tolka and Santry rivers to the south. The River Liffey forms its southern border with South Dublin. There are three large protected estuaries and salt marsh habitats, with thirteen major beaches. Howth Head and the Liffey Valley are covered by Special Area Amenity Orders.

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

Elections
Members of Fingal 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).

The figures for Solidarity (named the Anti-Austerity Alliance 2014 to 2017) include the figures for the Socialist Party, founded in 1996.

Local electoral areas
Fingal is divided into the seven local electoral areas. These are defined by electoral divisions which were defined in 1986, with minor amendments in 1994.

Councillors by electoral area
This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 7 June 2024.

Governance
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen from among the Councillors. The chief executive is appointed by central government. The current chief executive is AnnMarie Farrelly.