Fingal County Council

Fingal County Council (Irish: 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.

Fingal County Council Comhairle Contae Fhine Gall
Type
Type	County council of Fingal
Leadership
Mayor	Brian McDonagh, Lab
Structure
Seats	40
Political groups	Fine Gael (7)   Labour (7)   Fianna Fáil (6)   Sinn Féin (4)   Aontú (2)   PBP–Solidarity (2)   Social Democrats (2)   Green (1)   Inds. 4 Change (1)   National Party (1)   Independent (7)
Elections
Last election	7 June 2024
Motto
Irish: Flúirse Talaimh is Mara "Abundance of Land and Sea"
Meeting place
County Hall, Swords
Website
Official website

Location of Fingal in Ireland

History

The council of the electoral county of Dublin—Fingal was established in 1985 with 24 members.^[1] Its members also sat as members of Dublin County Council.^[2] At the 1991 local election, the electoral county was renamed Fingal.^[3]

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.^[4][5]

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.^[6] A new building, known as County Hall, located on Main Street in Swords, was purpose-built for the county council and completed in 2000.^[7]

The Local Government Act 2001 reformed the two-tier structure of local government. It confirmed the size of the council as 24 members.^[8]

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.^[9][10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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).

Year		FF		FG		Lab		GP		SF		SD		Sol		Aon		I4C		NP		PBP		PDs		Ind	Total
2024	6		7		7		1		4		2		2		2		1		1		0		—		7		40
2019	8		7		6		5		4		2		1		—		1		—		0		—		6		40
2014	7		6		4		2		6		—		4		—		0		—		1		—		10		40
2009	4		6		9		0		0		—		3		—		—		—		0		—		2		24
2004	4		5		6		3		1		—		2		—		—		—		—		1		2		24
1999	6		5		6		1		0		—		2		—		—		—		—		1		2		24
1991	8		6		5		2		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		1		2		24
1985	13		7		3		0		0		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		1		24

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.^[14] These are defined by electoral divisions which were defined in 1986, with minor amendments in 1994.^[15][16]

LEA	Definition	Seats
Balbriggan	Balbriggan Rural, Balbriggan Urban, Holmpatrick and Skerries	5
Blanchardstown–Mulhuddart	Blanchardstown-Abbotstown, Blanchardstown-Corduff, Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart, Blanchardstown-Tyrrelstown, Dubber, The Ward; and those parts of the electoral divisions of Blanchardstown-Blakestown and Blanchardstown-Coolmine north of a line drawn along the N3 dual carriageway	5
Castleknock	Blanchardstown-Delwood, Blanchardstown-Roselawn, Castleknock-Knockmaroon, Castleknock-Park, Lucan North; the part of Blanchardstown-Blakestown electoral division situated within the following line: Commencing at the intersection of the boundary between the electoral divisions of Blanchardstown-Blakestown and Lucan North with the R121 Road at the Clonsilla railway station bridge; (referred to hereafter as the first-mentioned point); then proceeding in a north easterly direction along the R121 road to its intersection with the Clonsilla link road; then proceeding in a northerly direction along the Clonsilla link road to its intersection with the Ongar distributor road; then proceeding in a south-easterly direction along the Ongar distributor road to its intersection with Shelerin Road; then proceeding in a southerly direction along Shelerin Road to its intersection with Clonsilla Road; then proceeding in an easterly direction along Clonsilla Road to its intersection with Porterstown Road; then proceeding in a southerly direction along Porterstown Road to the railway line; then proceeding in a westerly direction along the railway line to the first-mentioned point; and that part of the electoral division of Blanchardstown-Coolmine not contained in the local electoral area of Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart	6
Howth–Malahide	Baldoyle, Howth, Malahide East, Malahide West, Portmarnock North, Portmarnock South, Sutton; and those parts of the electoral divisions of Balgriffin, Kinsaley and Swords-Seatown not contained in the local electoral area of Swords	7
Ongar	That part of the electoral division of Blanchardstown-Blakestown not contained in the local electoral area of Castleknock and not contained in the local electoral area of Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart	5
Rush–Lusk	Ballyboghil, Balscadden, Clonmethan, Donabate, Garristown, Hollywood, Lusk and Rush	5
Swords	Airport, Kilsallaghan, Swords-Forrest, Swords-Glasmore, Swords-Lissenhall, Swords Village, Turnapin; and those parts of the electoral divisions of Balgriffin, Kinsaley and Swords-Seatown west of a line drawn along the M1 motorway.	7

Councillors

2024 seats summary

Party		Seats
	Fine Gael	7
	Labour	7
	Fianna Fáil	6
	Sinn Féin	4
	Aontú	2
	PBP–Solidarity	2
	Social Democrats	2
	Green	1
	Inds. 4 Change	1
	National Party	1
	Independent	7

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 7 June 2024.^[17]

Council members from 2024 election
Local electoral area	Name	Party
Balbriggan	Tony Murphy		Independent
	Gráinne Maguire		Independent
	Brendan Ryan		Labour
	Tom O'Leary		Fine Gael
	Malachy Quinn		Sinn Féin
Blanchardstown–Mulhuddart	Breda Hanaphy		Sinn Féin
	Mary McCamley		Labour
	JK Onwumereh		Fianna Fáil
	John Burtchaell		PBP–Solidarity
	Patrick Quinlan		National Party
Castleknock	Ted Leddy		Fine Gael
	John Walsh		Labour
	Siobhan Shovlin		Fine Gael
	Ellen Troy		Aontú
	Ruth Coppinger[a]		PBP–Solidarity
	Eimear Carbone-Mangan		Fianna Fáil
Howth–Malahide	Joan Hopkins		Social Democrats
	Aoibhinn Tormey		Fine Gael
	Cathal Haughey		Fianna Fáil
	Jimmy Guerin		Independent
	Brian McDonagh		Labour
	Eoghan O'Brien		Fianna Fáil
	David Healy		Green
Ongar	Tania Doyle		Independent
	Angela Donnelly		Sinn Féin
	Kieran Dennison		Fine Gael
	Tom Kitt		Fianna Fáil
	Gerard Sheehan		Aontú
Rush–Lusk	Robert O'Donoghue[a]		Labour
	Corina Johnston		Labour
	Cathal Boland		Independent
	Eoghan Dockrell		Fine Gael
	Paul Mulville		Social Democrats
Swords	Dean Mulligan		Inds. 4 Change
	Darragh Butler		Fianna Fáil
	Luke Corkery		Fine Gael
	Joe Newman		Independent
	James Humphreys		Labour
	Darren Jack Kelly		Independent
	Marian Buckley[a]		Sinn Féin

Co-options

Party		Outgoing	LEA	Reason	Date	Co-optee
	Sinn Féin	Marian Buckley	Swords	Resigned on medical grounds[18]	September 2024	Ann Graves[a]
	PBP–Solidarity	Ruth Coppinger	Castleknock	Elected to 34th Dáil at the 2024 general election	12 March 2025	Helen Redwood[19]
	Labour	Robert O'Donoghue	Rush–Lusk	Elected to 34th Dáil at the 2024 general election	18 December 2024	Kevin Humphreys[20]
	Sinn Féin	Ann Graves	Swords	Elected to 34th Dáil at the 2024 general election	18 December 2024	John Smyth[21]
	Labour	Kevin Humphreys	Rush–Lusk	Resignation	12 March 2025	Mark Boland[22]

Notes

1. Replaced during term, see table below for details.

Governance

The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen from among the councillors.^[23] The chief executive is appointed by central government. The current chief executive is AnnMarie Farrelly.^[24]