Galway City Council

History

The earliest known charter dates from a grant of Richard II of England in 1395. The first Mayor of Galway was Peirce Lynch. A board of town commissioners was established by local act in 1836. The corporation was dissolved under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840, with the town commissioners as its successor.

| use_new_UK-LEG = | UK-LEG_title = In 1853, 24 town commissioners were appointed under the Galway Town Improvement Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. cc). In 1899, under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 37), the county of the town became an urban district of County Galway, with an urban district council succeeding the town commissioners. In 1937, the Urban District of Galway became the Borough of Galway, remaining part of County Galway. The borough council had 12 members. It increased to 15 members at the 1985 election, in anticipation of its conversion to a city council.

In 1986, the Borough of Galway became the County Borough of Galway and ceased to part of County Galway. The council was known as "The Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the (County) Borough of Galway" from 1937 until the enactment of the Local Government Act 2001, under which it was renamed Galway City Council. In 2013, a Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee reviewed the allocation of seats and the local electoral areas across local authorities. In the case of Galway Council, it recommended an increase from 15 to 18 seats. This was implemented by the Local Government Reform Act 2014.

On 6 June 2018, the government announced that Galway City Council and Galway County Council were to be merged into a single local authority by 2021. As of late 2021, this proposal was reportedly "off the agenda".

Regional assembly

Galway City Council has two representatives on the Northern and Western Regional Assembly where they are part of the West Strategic Planning Area Committee.

Elections

Members of Galway City 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).

Local electoral areas

Galway is divided into three LEAs, defined by electoral divisions. The electoral divisions were formerly known as wards and were defined in 1986.

Councillors

The following were elected at the 2024 Galway City Council election.

2024 seats summary

Councillors by electoral area

This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 7 June 2024.

;Notes

Co-options

Changes in affiliation

References

References

1. Commissioners appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland. (1835). "Appendix to the First Report, Part I: Southern, midland, western and south-eastern circuits, and part of the north-eastern circuit". HMSO.
2. (4 July 1836). "Galway Improvement Act 1836 (c. cxvii)". [[The National Archives (United Kingdom).
3. (15 August 1853). "Galway Town Improvement Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. cc)". [[The National Archives (United Kingdom).
4. Clancy, John Joseph. (1899). "A handbook of local government in Ireland: containing an explanatory introduction to the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898: together with the text of the act, the orders in Council, and the rules made thereunder relating to county council, rural district council, and guardian's elections: with an index". Sealy, Bryers and Walker.
5. {{cite Irish legislation. (1937). (10 June 1937)
6. {{cite Irish legislation. (1937). (10 June 1937)
7. {{cite Irish legislation. (1985). (3 April 1985)
8. {{cite Irish legislation. (1985). (3 April 1985)
9. {{cite Irish legislation. (1985). (18 December 1985)
10. {{cite Irish legislation. (2001). (21 July 2001)
11. "History of the City Council". Galway City Council.
12. (29 May 2013). "Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee Report 2013".
13. (27 January 2014). "[[Local Government Reform Act 2014]]".
14. Kelly, Briain. (7 June 2018). "City and County councils will merge by 2021". Galway Daily.
15. (9 December 2021). "Council merger is now off the table". [[Connacht Tribune]].
16. {{Cite Irish legislation. (2014). (16 December 2014)
17. {{cite ISB. (2018). (19 December 2018)
18. {{cite ISB. (1986). (6 February 1986)
19. "Galway City Council – Elected Candidates". [[RTÉ News]].
20. (17 December 2024). "Fianna Fáil's Mike Crowe to be op-opted to John Connolly's vacant City Council seat".
21. (31 July 2025). "Galway city councillor resigns from the Social Democrats". [[The Irish Times]].