Town commissioners were elected local government bodies that existed in urban areas in Ireland from the 19th century until 2002.

Larger towns with commissioners were converted to urban districts by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, with the smaller commissions continuing to exist beyond partition in 1922.

The idea was a standardisation of the improvement commissioners established in an ad-hoc manner for particular towns in Britain and Ireland in the eighteenth century.

As the existing borough corporations were ineffective as local authorities the act came into force in sixty-five towns.

There was no poor law in Ireland until 1838, and the vestries had no real basis to rest on; and in 1828 they were in a most unpopular position, because the agitation which overthrew them in 1833 by the extinction of what is called parish cess, the same as the church rates in England, was just at its height.

[2] Thomas Larcom of the Irish Ordnance Survey wrote of the commissioners in 1846:[3] The boundaries of their assessments are very vaguely defined.

The town commissioners were recognised as successor to the borough, retaining corporate property and the municipal coat of arms.

Any town with property of more than £100 that lost its borough corporation, but had not adopted the 1828 Act, was to establish "municipal commissioners".

A number of towns took a different route to establish local authorities in their areas, by having private acts passed in parliament.

One of its duties was to consider applications for the formation of commissioners under the 1854 act, and for alteration of the areas of existing local government towns.

There were 76 such towns in 1881: According to the 1878 report of The Local Government Board, the 1854 Act was adopted in Strandtown, County Antrim on 25 February 1878.

Where commissioners ceased to exist, in the towns of Callan, Fethard, Newcastle West, Rathkeale, Roscommon and Tullow, their duties were taken over by the county council.