artment of Housing, Planning and Local Government oversees the operation of the local government system, providing the policy framework within which local authorities work and deliver services to the communities that they represent and serve. The Department also supports local government in its role of promoting the well-being and quality of life of citizens and communities through the efficient performance of functions and delivery of good-value services at local level.Legal FrameworkArticle 28A of the Irish Constitution (link is external) recognises the role of local government in providing a forum for the DEMOCRATIC representation of communities and in exercising and performing powers conferred by law. It also provides a GUARANTEE that local elections will be held every FIVE years.The Local Government Act 2001 (link is external) (extensively amended and UPDATED by the Local Government Reform Act 2014) is the core legislative code supporting the structures, powers, functions and duties of local government in Ireland.In addition to the 2001 Act, the operation of local authorities is affected by a range of other legislation very often dealing with specific services (e.g. housing, roads, planning, waste, etc.) which should be consulted, where relevant.StructuresEach county, city and city and county is divided into local electoral areas and members of local authorities are elected in these. Local electoral areas and the number of members to be elected in each are specified in a statutory instrument for each local authority area. These were most recently made in 2014 for all except Cork City, which was made in 2008.The breakdown between local authorities at county, city and city and county is as follows:There are 31 local authorities• 26 county councils, of which three are in Dublin (Fingal, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin• 3 city councils: Cork, Dublin and Galway• 2 city and county councils: Limerick and Waterford.The role of council and councillors infographicFunctionsLocal authorities are multi-purpose bodies responsible for delivering a broad range of services in relation to roads; traffic; planning; housing; economic and community development; environment, recreation and amenity services; fire services and maintaining the register of electors.iconsResponsibilities in councils are divided into two areas:reserved functions (for the elected council)executive functions (for the chief executive)Policy decisions are made by majority resolutions passed by the elected councillors during council meetings. These are reserved for the elected council and are ‘reserved functions’. Some of the reserved functions include, passing an annual budget, housing policy decisions and policies on environmental protection.These decisions may be made at 2 levels:FULL council (plenary level)Municipal/metropolitan/borough district level