Local electoral area in the context of "Counties of the Republic of Ireland"

The functions of local government in the Republic of Ireland are mostly exercised by thirty-one local authorities, termed County, City, or City and County Councils. The principal decision-making body in each of the thirty-one local authorities is composed of the members of the council, elected by universal franchise in local elections every five years from multi-seat local electoral areas using the single transferable vote. Many of the authorities' statutory functions are, however, the responsibility of ministerially appointed career officials termed Chief executives. The competencies of the city and county councils include planning, transport infrastructure, sanitary services, public safety (notably fire services) and the provision of public libraries. Each local authority sends representatives to one of three Regional Assemblies.

Local government in the state is governed by Local Government Acts 1925 to 2024, the principal act of which is the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 is the founding document of the present system. The Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (1999) provided for constitutional recognition of local government for the first time in Ireland in a new Article 28A. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 changed the structure by the abolition of all town councils and the merger of certain county councils. The reforms came into effect in 2014, to coincide with that year's local elections.

An electoral division (ED, Irish: toghroinn) is a legally defined administrative area in the Republic of Ireland, generally comprising multiple townlands, and formerly a subdivision of urban and rural districts. Until 1996, EDs were known as district electoral divisions (DEDs, toghroinn ceantair) in the 29 county council areas and wards in the five county boroughs. Until 1972, DEDs also existed in Northern Ireland. The predecessor poor law electoral divisions were introduced throughout the island of Ireland in the 1830s. The divisions were used as local-government electoral areas until 1919 in what is now the Republic and until 1972 in Northern Ireland.

Ireland uses the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) geocode standard for referencing country subdivisions for statistical purposes. The standard is developed and regulated by the European Union. The NUTS standard is instrumental in delivering European Structural and Investment Funds. The NUTS code for Ireland is IE and a hierarchy of three levels is established by Eurostat. A further level of geographic organisation, the local administrative unit (LAU), in Ireland is the local electoral area.

Swords (Irish: Sord [sˠoːɾˠd̪ˠ] or Sord Cholmcille) in County Dublin, the county town of the local government area of Fingal, is a large suburban town on the east coast of Ireland, situated ten kilometres north of Dublin city centre. It is the eighth largest urban area in Ireland, with a population of 40,776 as of the 2022 census. The town was reputedly founded c. AD 560. Located on the Ward River, Swords features Swords Castle, a restored medieval castle, a holy well from which it takes its name, a round tower and a Norman tower. Facilities in the area include the Pavilions shopping centre, one of the largest in the Dublin region, a range of civic offices, some light industries, the main storage facility and archive of the National Museum of Ireland and several parks. Dublin Airport is located nearby.

The name "Swords" gives its name to a townland of Swords Demesne, a civil parish, and a local electoral area.