Register of Electors

Local Electoral Area	No of Electors
Kilkenny City	14,113
Piltown	13,888
Ballyragget	11,867
Thomastown	11,703
Callan	8,265
Kilkenny	4,584

 

2003/2004 Register of Electors - Highlights

Dail Constituency	Presidential Electors	Dail Electors
Carlow-Kilkenny	63,666	64,003

 

European Parliment

Constituency	European Electors
Leinster	64,109

 

Conditions for Registration

Age: A person must be at least 18 years of age on the day the register comes into force (15th February). A person may be included on a Supplement to the Register on reaching 18 and after the 15th February. Every resident aged 18 and upwards is entitled to be on the register or the Supplement.

Citizenship: A person's citizenship determines the election a person may vote at. The right to vote is as follows:

Irish Citizen:	May vote at every election and referendum
British Citizen:	May vote at Dail, European and Local Elections
Other EU Citizens:	May vote at European and Local Elections
Non-EU Citizens:	May vote at local elections only
Residence	A person must be ordinarily resident at the address in question and may register at one address only

 

The Draft Register of Electors is published on the 1st November each year.

The Final Register of Electors is published on the 1st February each year and becomes effective from the 15th February.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE REGISTER OF ELECTORS

If a person is not included in the Register of Electors currently in force but considers that he/she qualifies for registration, the person may apply for entry in a supplement to the register. In order to qualify, a person must meet the citizenship, residence and age requirements which apply to the register concerned. Applications for entry in the supplement must be received by Kilkenny County Council at least 14 working days before an election or referendum. Persons entered in the supplement are entitled to vote at elections/referenda held during the currency of the register.

 

POSTAL VOTERS

The following categories can vote by post:

1. Whole-time members of the Defence Forces.
2. Irish Diplomats posted abroad and their spouses.
3. Members of the Garda Siochana.
4. Disabled persons living at home who cannot vote at a polling station due to physical illness or physical disability,
5. Persons who due to circumstances of their occupation, service or employment. This includes students participating in a full time course in this state.

Note: Applications for a postal vote must be renewed on an annual basis.

 

SPECIAL VOTERS

Electors who are ordinarily resident in a hospital, home or other institution for persons with a physical illness or physical disability are eligible for entry on a special voters list. This is where a special presiding officer is accompanied by a Garda, whose role is to guard the ballot papers (in the same way as in a polling station) and to act as an independent witness to ensure that the voting procedure is carried out properly.

Note: Applications to be included in the Special Voters List must be renewed on an annual basis.

 

INSPECTING THE REGISTER

Any person may inspect the Draft Register/Final Register during working hours at the offices of Kilkenny County Council, Kilkenny Borough Council, Public Libraries, Post Offices and Garda Stations.

 

 

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Acts 1997 came into effect for Local Authorities from 21st October 1998. An application fee of 15 Euro must accompany a request for non-personal information (Freedom of Information Act 2003). A total of 26 requests were received in 2003.

 

 

Number of Council Meetings + Payments to Councillors

Number of Council Meetings, Committee Meetings Held from 1st January, 2003 to 31st December, 2003.

No. of Ordinary Monthly Meetings	11	Woodstock	1
Special Meetings of the Council	3	Integrated Area Plan	2
Estimates	2	Goul Joint Drainage	2
Planning	2	County Development Board	4
Thomastown Electoral Area	8	Corporate Policy Group	9
Kilkenny Electoral Area	8	Water Safety	5
Callan Electoral Area	7	Joint Traffic Committee	1
Piltown Electoral Area	8	Barrow Nore Suir	10
Ballyragget Electoral Area	5	Kilkenny Community Action Network (KCAN)	12
Rural Water Monitoring	5	County Enterprise Board	8
Traveller Accommodation	6
SPC 1 - Economic Planning and Development Policy	8
SPC 2 - Transportation Policy	4
SPC 3 - Environmental Policy including Sanitary Services,Fire Services, Emergency Planning	5
SPC 4 - Housing Policy, Social	4
SPC 5 - Communtiy & Enterprise including Arts, Culture, Heritage, Tourism, Education	5

 

Payments:

Council Meetings / Committee Meetings :	€ 124,417.38
Training and Education Allowance :	€ 89,344.08
Foreign Travel :	€ 6,490.63
SPC Chairperson Allowance :	€ 25,394.75

 

 

Workplace Partnership in Kilkenny County and City Councils

During 2003 an extensive consultation process took place with staff of Kilkenny County and Borough Council. These consultation sessions commenced in Kilkenny Borough Council on 28th April, 2003 and the last of the sessions with the Council staff took place on 3rd December. Over that period 61 separate consultation sessions took place with a total of 481 staff participating across the two local authorities. Staff at all grades and levels were consulted.

This process was undertaken for a number of reasons:
1. The report from these sessions will feed into Kilkenny Local Authorities Corporate Plans for 2004/2006.

2. One of the key issues of the Strategic Plan "Deepening Partnership in Local Government and the Local Authorities Partnership Committee Action Plan" is the identification through consultation with staff of a range of issues which could be addressed through partnership and which will deliver visible and positive outcomes for employees, managers and customers.

3. It was felt necessary to get the views of the staff of Kilkenny Borough Council and Kilkenny County Council as to what they saw as being the main issues affecting the organisation and how they believe these issues should be addressed.

4. Subsequent to the commencement of these consultation sessions - "Sustaining Progress - Social Partnership Agreement 2003/2005" was drawn up. Under this national agreement pay increases under benchmarking have to be verified against agreed commitments or criteria as contained in the agreement. All of the flexibility initiatives required will be progressed through the partnership process.  This report will form the basis of progressing these initiatives.

The sessions were facilitated by Adrian Waldron, Workplace Partnership Facilitator and Brid Hynes, Lindsay Butler and Ronan Ryan, Community Development Officers with the Community & Enterprise Section.

The Consultation process with staff from Kilkenny Borough Council took place over the time Monday, 28th April, 2003 to Friday, 30th May, 2003. The report was presented to staff on 16th July. Following the presentation of this report a Working Group was set up from staff members to address the issues which arose in the consultation sessions. This committee held their first meeting in November, 2003. The sessions with County Council staff took place between July and December, 2003. The report based on these consultation sessions is currently in the process of being completed and will be presented to staff at the end of January, 2004.

Whereas the focus of workplace partnership changed from being project based towards being more central as to how the organization runs its business, there were still a number of projects from which staff benefited from during the year:

• Health and Safety Projects.
• Computer Courses.
• Customer Service Training.
• Funding was received for a family friendly day which will take place during 2004.
• Facilities for improvements to the Borough Yard .

 

During meetings with all area based staff and borough staff in January and February 2003, most of the balance of the long service awards were presented by the County Manager, Michael Malone, to the staff who were unable to attend the function held in December, 2002.