City Council moves to seek more representatives due to increase in Cork population

Cork City Council is to seek an increase of its membership from the government, as its councillor to population ratio has doubled since 2019.

Green party councillor Dan Boyle proposed at Monday’s council meeting that Cork City Council would seek government legislative change that would increase the membership of this Council to better reflect increased population, added land area and greater responsibilities brought about by the 2019 city boundary extension.

Currently, the ratio in Cork City, roughly 7,200 people per councillor, is higher than the national average of 5,400 people per councillor meaning each councillor in Cork City represents more residents than the typical councillor across Ireland.

Rebecca Loughry, the council’s director of corporate, community and cultural affairs said: “The responsibility for determining the number of councillors per Local Authority area rests with the Minister for Local Government.

“The Programme for Government 2025 provided for the establishment of the Local Democracy Taskforce for the reform and strengthening of local government in Ireland. The Local Democracy Taskforce was indeed established in June 2024, and it is currently progressing with its work schedule with the aim of delivering recommendations to Government in the first half of 2026.

In relation to councillor numbers.” She explained that the taskforce has been asked to: “examine how the current number of councillors is determined and explore proposals for a framework for amendments including taking into consideration population growth since the 2014 reforms and the consequent need for an increase in the numbers of councillors to ensure appropriate representation of citizens”.

Ms Loughry explained that this taskforce will finalise a programme of recommendations for the reform and strengthening of local government in Ireland, which will include recommendations in relation to the framework for determining councillor numbers, which will be considered by the government.

“Any proposal to increase the number of Councillors is predicated on those recommendations,” she added.

Mr Boyle’s motion received huge support at council, with many councillors speaking on the need for at least an additional councillor per ward given the amount of constituents they were currently working to represent.

He told The Echo: “Cork City Council has a councillor to population ratio double what it was in 2019. 

"As a Council we are underrepresented on bodies that deal with a regional approach to health, education and planning.

“I am encouraged that many of my Council colleagues accept the workload more than justifies additional councillors and hope that as a Council we can bring such a change about.”