The Chief Executive of a city or county is the senior permanent official in local government in the Republic of Ireland.
[5] The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 established elected county and town councils with executive authority, with the Local Government Board for Ireland having the power to dissolve councils which did not comply with their statutory obligations.
[6] During and immediately after the Irish Civil War, the Minister dissolved several councils, including those of Dublin and Cork cities, and replaced each with an unelected commissioner.
Similar laws were passed under the next, Fianna Fáil, government for the other two county boroughs: Limerick in 1934 and Waterford in 1939.
The system was modified also in subsequent legislation, particularly the City and County Management (Amendment) Act 1955, which made some adjustments to give greater power to the council members.
Initially, six pairs of smaller counties shared a manager; the last such case was Laois and Offaly, split in 1982.
[10][11] The mergers of three pairs of local government areas in 2014 were preceded by the appointment of joint managers from 2012.
[12] Under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, the position of "County/City Manager" was replaced by that of "Chief Executive".
[16] In situations where the post of chief executive becomes vacant, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage must appoint someone temporarily.