Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
406. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm whether the Department operates any formal or published criteria for the designation of city status; if not, to outline the objective benchmarks used in advising Government on such matters; and if he will publish the basis upon which existing cities were designated. [18202/26]
View answer407. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current population of each designated city in the State at the time of its most recent legislative confirmation; to specify the population threshold, if any, that would trigger consideration of city status for another urban area. [18203/26]
View answer408. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to clarify whether the Government has considered the designation of Dundalk as a city in the context of its strategic role within the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor; and whether any cross-departmental discussions have taken place on this matter. [18204/26]
View answer409. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the Department has examined the establishment of a Dundalk metropolitan district with enhanced urban governance powers; the legislative steps that would be required; and to confirm whether this has been considered as a precursor to city designation. [18205/26]
View answer410. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a comparative analysis of Dundalk and the five designated cities in terms of population size, economic output, higher education provision and regional strategic role; and to indicate in which areas Dundalk falls short of city designation criteria, if any such criteria exist. [18206/26]
View answer411. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the Government has any intention within the lifetime of the current National Planning Framework to designate additional cities; and if not, to state the policy rationale for maintaining the current structure. [18207/26]
View answer412. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline whether a boundary review of Dundalk has been considered in light of sustained population growth; to state the mechanism by which such a review could be initiated; and whether the Minister will commit to examining this matter. [18208/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411 and 412 together.
The Local Government Act 2001 provided for a single, common legislative code to apply to local authorities, replacing archaic provisions spread over a series of Acts dating back to the 19th century. It provided for local authorities to be known as county councils, city councils, and town councils. Under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, town councils were abolished and municipal districts were introduced in 25 of the 31 local authorities at sub-county level, including in Dundalk, namely Dundalk Municipal District, while area committees would to operate in the three city authorities of Cork, Dublin and Galway, and the three Dublin county authorities.
Each municipal district can include several towns and villages and their hinterlands, with local matters dealt with at municipal district level and wider strategic issues decided at county level. The result is an integrated administrative structure in each county, which maximises operational efficiency while ensuring devolved decision-making throughout the county. The 2014 Act also saw the merger of the city and county councils of Waterford and Limerick respectively, and the two county councils in Tipperary.
As such, local government legislation now provides for three types of local government areas with local authorities known as county councils, city councils, and city and county councils. The 26 county councils include Louth County Council, while city councils are in place for Dublin, Cork and Galway and city and county councils are in place for Limerick and Waterford.
If an additional city council were to be established, it would have significant implications for the county in which the area concerned is situated. The creation of a “Dundalk City Council” would have significant implications for Louth County Council, leaving the county with a much reduced territorial jurisdiction, population and resources. It is by no means clear that the fragmentation of current local government structures in County Louth would support Dundalk’s development. The experience of Waterford and Limerick, where it was decided that both the city and county would benefit from a merger, is important to note in this regard. For a city council to be established, provision would have to be made for this and other consequential matters in the relevant legislation.
On 4 June 2025, the Government approved the establishment of a Local Democracy Taskforce, which will finalise a programme for the reform and strengthening of local government in Ireland. The establishment of the Taskforce is a key commitment in the Programme for Government. The Terms of Reference for the Taskforce, agreed by Government, set out an ambitious and detailed work programme, which it is expected will give rise to a series of reforms in the local government sector.
The Taskforce has just submitted its final report for consideration by Government. I am keen see the momentum for implementing reform maintained and so it is my intention to prepare an implementation plan for consideration by Government over the coming weeks. Following this, the report and implementation plan will be published and the process of implementing the reform policy ultimately agreed by Government will commence.
From a planning perspective, there is no formal or published criteria for the designation of city status. The Planning and Development Act 2024 provides a definition of a ‘city’ as either:
(a) the administrative area of a city council (within the meaning of the Act of 2001) or;
(b) a municipal district that includes an area that, by virtue of subsection (6) of section 10 of the Local Government Act 2001, may continue to be described as a city”.
These cities are Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway. The population of each city at census 2022 was as follows:
• Dublin City and Suburbs: 1,263,219
• Cork City and Suburbs: 222,526
• Limerick City and Suburbs: 102,287
• Galway City and Suburbs: 85,910
• Waterford City and Suburbs: 60,079
There is no specific population threshold that would trigger consideration of city status for another urban area. Census 2022 indicated that the population of the ‘built up area’ of Dundalk is 43,112 persons.
The comparative analysis sought is not readily available in my Department. The National Planning Framework (NPF) and the Regional and Spatial Economic Strategy (RSES) for the Eastern and Midlands Region set out the strategic role of Ireland’s cities and regional growth centres, including Dundalk. The NPF, together with the National Development Plan 2021 (NDP), combine to form Project Ireland 2040. The NDP is the rolling capital programme linked to the NPF.
The First Revision to the NPF published in 2025 sets out a vision and strategy for the spatial development of Ireland to 2040.
Recognising that the same level or even type of growth cannot occur everywhere, the NPF strategy includes a degree of prioritisation. The strategy seeks to support regionally balanced, city focused and compact growth. To underpin the transition towards greater regional balance, the NPF targets 50% of projected population growth into the five cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, with the balance of growth targeted throughout the Country. The strategy supports the future growth of Dublin as Ireland’s leading global city of scale. It sets ambitious growth targets for the four cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, enhancing their significant potential to become cities of scale and to act as drivers for regional growth. Furthermore, the NPF also designates five regional growth centres, namely Athlone, Sligo, Letterkenny, Drogheda and Dundalk.
The NPF recognises the strategic importance of Dundalk and aims to support its development and its economic potential as part of the Dublin-Belfast Corridor and in particular the core Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry network.
Dundalk’s role is reflected at a regional level in the RSES for the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly area. The RSES targets significant growth into the regional growth centres, including Dundalk, to enable them to act as regional drivers.
In relation to the designation of settlements in the NPF, there is no definitive criteria for city status or scale. The question of additional city designation is not being considered at the moment. The OECD define a metric that is sometimes referred to – “a cluster of contiguous grid cells of one square kilometer with a density of at least 1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer and a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants overall”. Rather than just relying on population metrics when designating areas, the NPF carefully considers the respective role of cities/large towns in terms of their importance in driving economic development in their wider regions.
Part V of the Local Government Act 1991, as amended, contains provisions relating to local authority boundary alterations, including procedures in relation to proposals for such alteration; provision for the establishment of a boundary committee to review boundaries; and power for the Minister, subject to specified conditions, to alter boundaries by order. There are currently no proposals as provided for in the legislation for an alteration of the administrative area boundaries of existing local authorities.
Section 23 of the Local Government Act 2001 empowers the Minister to divide a local authority administrative area into local electoral areas and to determine the Municipal Districts within the administrative area by order. Each Municipal District must consist of one or more than one local electoral area. The section also empowers the Minister to amend those orders. However, in advance of deciding to make an order under section 23 of the 2001 Act, the Minister must, in accordance with section 32(2) of the Local Government Act 1991, request An Coimisiún Toghcháin to prepare a report having regard to such matters as may be specified by the Minister.
Before making a request to An Coimisiún, section 61 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 provides that the Minister shall lay a draft of the request before each House of the Oireachtas for approval by resolution by each House. Following the completion of a review, the Minister must publish the report of An Coimisiún and must have regard to the report in deciding whether to make an order in relation to any amendment to local electoral area boundaries or municipal districts.
The current configurations and names of local electoral areas and of municipal districts have applied since the 2019 local elections, and followed a review of local electoral area boundaries conducted in two parts, both published in 2018. I will consider the need for future boundary reviews in advance of the 2029 local elections.
