Louth County Council Louth County Council () is the authority responsible for local government in County Louth, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and development, amenity and culture, and environment. The council has 29 elected members. Elections are held every five years and are by single transferable vote. The head of the council has the title of Cathaoirleach (Chairperson). The county administration is headed by a Chief Executive, Joan Martin. The county town is Dundalk. History Originally meetings of Louth County Council took place in Dundalk Courthouse. A home for the county officials was subsequently established at County Buildings in Crowe Street and both the county council and its officials moved to County Hall in 2000. Councillors For the purpose of elections, the county is divided into four Local Electoral Area's (LEA): Ardee (6 seats), Drogheda (10 seats), Dundalk-Carlingford (6 seats) and Dundalk South (7 seats). 2019 seats summary Councillors by electoral area This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 24 May 2019. †Replaced during term, see table below for details. Co-options Chief executive (county manager) Each council has a chief executive, previous to 2014 known as city or county manager, who is the manager of the local authority. Cathaoirleach of Council (Chairman) Every year, each local authority elects a chair called the Cathaoirleach for a term of one year and a deputy chair called the Leas-Cathaoirleach from among its members. The members elected for each municipal district elect a Cathaoirleach and a Leas-Chathaoirleach for their grouping. The Cathaoirleach chairs the meetings of the local authority or municipal district. Mayor and Deputy Mayor are titles used in municipal districts which were formerly borough councils. Since 1899 there has been 51 Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council. Cathaoirleach party distribution Breakdown of the 51 times the Cathaoirleach (chair) was held by each political party in Louth, in its 119 year history: Population by Local Electoral Area The table below sets out the population of the county broken down by Local Electoral Area, total 2016 population of 128,884. Population by Municipal District The table below sets out the population of the county broken down by Municipal District, total 2016 population of 128,884. Population by Electoral Division The table below sets out the population of the county broken down by Electoral Division. See also Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 Local government in the Republic of Ireland References External links Category:Politics of County Louth Category:County councils in the Republic of Ireland Category:Drogheda Category:Dundalk