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The Organisational Structure of Limerick County Council



Limerick County Council is the administrative body responsible for Limerick County and comprises an elected and executive structure.

The policy framework within which the organisation operates is laid down by a democratically elected Council consisting of 28 councillors representing the five electoral areas in the County:

  •  Adare
  •  Castleconnell
  •  Kilmallock
  •  Rathkeale
  •  Newcastle

The Cathaoirleach of the Council is elected from amongst the 28 members at the Annual meeting of the Council held in June each year. The Cathaoirleach for 2011/2012  is Councillor Mary Harty.
 
The policy formulation role of the Council is organised into a Committee structure at which level matters of policy are debated before recommendation to the full Council for approval. Limerick County Council has established five Strategic Policy Committees (SPC’s) covering its main areas of activity as follows:

  1. Planning and Development
  2. Environment
  3. Transportation and Infrastructure
  4. Housing
  5. Social, Cultural and Community Development
The Better Local Government reform programme had, as one of its key objectives, the strengthening of local democracy and in keeping with this objective and reflecting the partnership model at national level, each policy committee has one third of its membership drawn from the following sectoral interests:

  •  Agriculture/Farming
  •  Environment/Conservation/Culture
  •  Development/Construction
  •  Business/Commercial
  •  Trade Union
  •  Community/Voluntary/Disadvantaged
The Corporate Policy Group (CPG) consisting of the Cathaoirleach of the Council and the five Chairs of the SPC’s deals with policy matters of a cross cutting nature and with some specific functions statutorily allocated to it such as the preparation of the Corporate Plan and consultation on the Annual Budget.

The day-to-day business of the Council is carried out by an Executive which is headed by the County Manager and operates within the policy framework laid down by the elected members. The delegation of his functions by the County Manager into five separate Directorates each headed up by a Director of Service reflects the revised management structure introduced by Better Local Government. This group together with the Head of Finance comprise the Management Team.

The functions delegated to each Director are each linked to the remit of one of the five Strategic Policy Committees and so a primary responsibility of management is facilitating the policy making role of the Council. Though the headquarters of Limerick County Council is located in Dooradoyle, services are also administered locally in each electoral area through the network of Area Offices. This process is further complimented by an Area Committee structure which provides for elected members from each electoral area to address local issues at regular meetings held for that purpose and serviced by the relevant Area Offices.