About the Association of County and City Councils

The Association of County and City Councils represents elected councillors across Ireland's county and city councils. We speak for the men and women who sit in chambers from Cork to Donegal, making decisions on housing, roads, planning, and the daily machinery of local democracy.

This site continues the same topical coverage it always has. Historical articles stay at their original URLs with original wording. We also publish new evergreen guides in the same niche, written to be useful today and next year.

Local government in Ireland is often misunderstood. Councillors hold no executive power, yet they set budgets, adopt development plans, and answer to voters every five years. The Association exists to amplify their voice in national debates and to share practical knowledge across councils.

Our archive stretches back years. Those pieces remain untouched because they capture the concerns and language of their moment. New guides fill gaps or update topics where the law, funding model, or political landscape has shifted.

We do not invent news events. We do not conduct original interviews for this website. When a guide references a theme, a place, or a policy, it draws on the public record and the lived experience of councillors we work with day to day.

The Association is funded by member subscriptions from councils. We answer to elected members, not advertisers or data brokers. That independence shapes every paragraph published here.

If you are a councillor, a journalist covering local government, or a citizen trying to understand who decides what in your county, this site is for you. We write in plain English because democracy should never require a decoder ring.

Questions about the Association's structure, membership, or advocacy work can be sent to the contact address. This website is one tool among many. The real work happens in council chambers, at the Local Government Management Agency, and in late-night budget meetings every November.

We will keep adding guides as long as councillors keep asking the same smart questions. The archive grows forward, not sideways.