Type County council Seats 30 | Cathaoirleach Michael Holmes, Ind Last election 23 May 2014 | |
 | ||
Political groups Fianna Fáil (10)
Fine Gael (10)
Sinn Féin (3)
Renua Ireland (1)
Independent (6) | ||
Mayo County council (Irish: Comhairle Contae Mhaigh Eo) is the authority responsible for local government in County Mayo, 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 30 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, Peter Hynes. The county town is Castlebar.
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Councillors
In the early 1930s, the County Council was dissolved for a while and replaced with a Commissioner because of the Mayo librarian controversy. For the purpose of elections the county is divided into four local electoral areas: Ballina (8), Castlebar (8), Claremorris (7), and West Mayo (7).
Councillors by electoral area
This list reflects the order in which councillors were elected on 23 May 2014.
Assessment
Mayo County Council was identified in 2011 by An Taisce, the national trust, as among the worst county councils in Ireland's planning system during the period 2000–11.
County councils in Ireland were assessed by the organisation in relation to overzoning; decisions reversed by An Bord Pleanála after being passed by a local authority; percentage of vacant housing stock; and percentage of one-off houses permitted. An Taisce's report of its findings described the results as "stark and troubling".
In Mayo, many council planning decisions were overturned because the council violated their own County Development Plan. Overdevelopment in Mayo was another problem identified, with too many vacant houses in the county (not inclusive of holiday homes). A spokesman for An Taisce commented, "Mayo didn’t do well on one-off houses either. What a lot of local authorities don’t seem to appreciate is that it is more expensive to provide infrastructure to one-off houses in the countryside than it is to do so to estates."