Local Government Act, 1927

What is this act about?

This law, the Local Government Act, 1927, amends the Local Government Act, 1925, and introduces other changes to local government law as a result of the 1925 Act. It primarily deals with the duties and financial arrangements of local health boards and county councils.

Who it applies to: Boards of health and public assistance; County councils and councils of county or other boroughs or urban districts.

At a glance

Country: Ireland
Area of law: Health and pharmaceutical law
Articles: 16
Source: irishstatutebook.ie
Text retrieved: 2026-06-17
Explanation updated: 2026-07-07

What does this act regulate?

The duties and powers of boards of health in county health districts and joint districts.
The borrowing powers of boards of health.
The classification and raising of expenses for certain local government functions, including those under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts.
The apportionment and collection of rates by county councils, including provisions for agricultural land and urban districts.

Who does this act apply to?

Boards of health and public assistance.
County councils and councils of county or other boroughs or urban districts.

What are the key points?

Boards of health in county health districts are responsible for powers and duties transferred from rural district councils, except those listed in the First Schedule.
Boards of health in joint districts are responsible for powers and duties under specific enactments, including the Tuberculosis Prevention (Ireland) Acts, 1908 and 1913.
Boards of health cannot borrow without the prior consent of the county council, or the council of every county or county borough if under a county scheme.
County councils must make one poor rate for the whole local financial year, collected in equal moieties, and without distinguishing between agricultural land and other hereditaments.

Health and pharmaceutical law

Mental Treatment Act, 1953

Children's Health Act 2018

Local Authorities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1936

Mental Health Act 20266

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022

Agricultural Produce (Meat) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1954

Chemicals (Amendment) Act 2010

Health Act 2004

Health and pharmaceutical law

Legal text

Contents (16)

Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
Section 9
Section 10
Section 11
Section 12
Section 13
Section 14
Section 15
Section 16

Local Government Act, 1927 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.ie) Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.ie) Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(s) or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 1927 Local Government Act, 1927 Local Government Act, 1927 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 3 of 1927.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1927.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section

Section 1

Definitions.

Section 2

Duties to be performed by board of health in county health district.

Section 3

Duties to be performed by boards of health in joint districts.

Section 4

Borrowing by boards of health.

Section 5

Expenses of Labourers (Ireland) Acts.

Section 6

Expenses of county councils.

Section 7

Demand notes for rates.

Section 8

Amendment of section 44 of the Principal Act.

Section 9

Contributions to superannuation in respect of service under committees.

Section 10

Payment of superannuation to ex-officers of boards of guardians and rural district councils.

Section 11

Rating of new buildings.

Section 12

Partial suspension of increases in valuations of buildings.

Section 13

Amendment of section 60 of the Principal Act.

Section 14

Amendment of section 86 of the Principal Act.

Section 15

Minor amendments of the Principal Act.

Section 16

Short title, citation, and construction.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

THIRD SCHEDULE.

Acts Referred to Local Government Act, 1925 No. 5 of 1925 Number 3 of 1927.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1927.

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1925 , AND TO MAKE CERTAIN OTHER AMENDMENTS IN THE LAW RELATING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT WHICH ARE REQUIRED AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE SAID ACT. [3rd March, 1927.] BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:— Definitions.

1.—(1) In this Act— the expression “the Principal Act” means the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925); the expression “rateable value” when used in relation to a hereditament, or hereditaments, or area, means the annual rateable value under the Valuation Acts of such hereditament, or of all such hereditaments or of all the hereditaments comprised in such area (as the case may be); the expression “agricultural land” means and includes any hereditament or tenement entered as land in the valuation list within the meaning of the Valuation Acts which is not part of a railway or canal and which was not at the date of the passing of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 , situate within the boundary of a borough or of any town which was then (for the time being) an urban sanitary district; the expression “other hereditament” means and includes any hereditament or tenement which is not agricultural land; the expression “agricultural grant” means the total amount of the sums payable to a county council under section 48 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 , and under the Local Government (Rates on Agricultural Land) Act, 1925 , for the purpose of being applied in relief of rates on the agricultural land in the county (exclusive of any urban district therein) in a local financial year; every expression used in this Act which is also used in the Principal Act shall, save where otherwise expressly so stated, have the same meaning as it has in the Principal Act.

(2)In this Act the expression “joint district” means, as the case may require, either— (a) an area in a county consisting of a county health district which has no urban district adjoining thereto and situate in such county, or (b) an area in a county composed of a county health district and every urban district adjoining thereto and situate in such county:

Provided always that where an urban district adjoins two or more county health districts situate in the same county as such urban district, the Minister shall determine to which of such county health districts such urban district is for the purpose of this sub-section to be deemed to adjoin and thereupon this sub-section shall apply in such county as if such urban district adjoined only the county health district so determined by the Minister.

Duties to be performed by board of health in county health district.

2.—(1) In addition to the powers and duties of a county council as sanitary authority for a county health district every other power and duty of a county council in relation to a county health district or any part thereof which was transferred by the Principal Act from the Council of a rural district to the county council, other than the powers and duties specified in the First Schedule to this Act, shall be exercised and performed through and by the board of health for such county health district.

(2)The expenses of the exercise or performance of any power or duty under this section or under section 10 of the Principal Act by the board of health for a county health district shall be raised by the county council in such district by means of the poor rate, and shall, subject to the provisions of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, in regard to the raising of special expenses of a rural sanitary authority and to the provisions of any enactment which directs any expenses to be raised as such special expenses are raised, be raised equally over the whole of such district.

(3)Sub-section (3) of section 14 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed.

(4)This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1927.

Duties to be performed by boards of health in joint districts.

3.—(1) The powers and duties of a county council under or in pursuance of any of the enactments specified in the Second Schedule to this Act and, save where the Minister shall otherwise direct, under the Tuberculosis Prevention (Ireland) Acts, 1908 and 1913, shall be exercised and performed in a joint district through and by the board of health for the county health district co-terminous therewith or included therein.

(2)A board of health shall not appoint under the Tuberculosis Prevention (Ireland) Acts, 1908 and 1913, a committee of management for a hospital or dispensary established under those Acts, but shall themselves exercise the powers and duties of such committee subject to any delegation of such powers and duties made by them under section 13 of the Principal Act.

(3)The expenses of the exercise and performance by a board of health in a joint district of any powers and duties under this section shall be raised equally over the whole of such joint district by means of the poor rate.

(4)

Section 15

of the Principal Act is hereby repealed.

(5)This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1927.

Borrowing by boards of health.

4.—(1) A board of health shall not without the previous consent of the county council exercise any power to borrow.

(2)Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any county scheme, neither a board of health and public assistance in the performance of their duties under the county scheme nor any other body to whom under a county scheme is entrusted the administration of the relief of the poor shall exercise any power to borrow without the consent of the council of every county or county borough to which the county scheme relates.

(3)A consent under this section by the council of a county or county borough to the exercise of a power to borrow shall only be given by resolution passed by the council after not less than one month's notice of the intention to propose the resolution at the meeting at which it is passed has been given to every member of the council.

(4)On and after the 1st day of April, 1927, all payments due on foot of any loan borrowed by a county or rural district council before the passing of this Act for the purpose of the exercise and performance of any power or duty now vested in a board of health shall be made through and by such board of health: Provided always that nothing in this sub-section shall affect the area of charge for any such payment.

(5)Sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed.

Expenses of Labourers (Ireland) Acts.

5.—(1) All expenses incurred in the execution of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, in a county health district (including the repayment of moneys borrowed for the purposes of the said Acts whether before or after the appointed day) shall be special expenses within the meaning of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919.

(2)The area of charge for such of the said expenses as are incurred in connection with the erection or provision, before the appointed day, of cottages or plots in a rural district or in connection with the maintenance of cottages or plots so erected or provided shall (subject to any alteration of such area of charge duly made under the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, after the passing of this Act) be the area of the rural district as constituted immediately before the appointed day.

(3)This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1927, and shall not apply to the County or the City of Dublin.

(4)Save in the County and City of Dublin sub-section (4) of section 57 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 , shall cease to have effect.

Expenses of county councils.

6.—(1) A county council shall apportion every amount to be raised off any area which includes an urban district between the urban district and the remainder of such area in proportion to rateable value, and every amount so apportioned to an urban district and also the amount of any expenses incurred by the county council which by virtue of any enactment or any direction given under any enactment may be raised off the urban district shall be paid by the council of that district to the county council upon the prescribed demand.

(2)The county council shall raise the several amounts apportioned as aforesaid to any part of the county which is not an urban district by means of the poor rate.

(3)The council shall, either immediately prior to or at the beginning of each local financial year, make one poor rate for the whole local financial year and shall collect such poor rate in equal moities, one such moiety for each half year of such local financial year.

(4)The council shall make the poor rate for any local financial year in respect of every hereditament and tenement in the county without distinguishing between agricultural land and other hereditaments.

(5)The council shall divide the agricultural grant amongst all the agricultural lands in the county (exclusive of any urban district therein) in proportion to the rateable value of such agricultural lands assessable to the poor rate, and shall allow the amount assigned on such division to any agricultural land by way of abatement from the amount of the poor rate made in respect of such land or the hereditament or tenement of which such agricultural land forms part.

(6)This section shall apply with the necessary modifications to the making of a poor rate by the council of a county or other borough or an urban district.

(7)Save in the County and City of Dublin sub-sections (1) to (6) and sub-section (9) of section 51 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 , shall cease to have effect.

(8)Save in the County and City of Dublin sub-section (1) of section 96 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 , shall cease to have effect.

(9)This section shall not apply to the County or the City of Dublin.

(10)This section shall apply only to the raising of the expenses of the service of the local financial year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1927, or any subsequent local financial year.

Demand notes for rates.

7.—(1) Every demand note for rates shall show separately on the front or the back thereof the portion of the rate in the pound of every rate which is raised for the construction, maintenance, or abandonment of roads and also the portion of the rate in the pound of every rate which is raised for any other purpose in respect of which the Minister shall direct that the same shall be so shown separately.

(2)On every demand note for poor rate by the council of a county there shall also be shown the rate in the pound on the rateable value assessable to the poor rate of the agricultural land in the county to which the agricultural grant is equivalent.

(3)Paragraph (e) of sub-section (1) of section 27 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed.

(4)This section shall not apply to the County or the City of Dublin.

(5)This section shall apply only to rates for raising the expenses of the services of the local financial year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1927, or any subsequent local financial year.

Amendment of section 44 of the Principal Act.

8.—Sub-section (5) of section 44 of the Principal Act shall be construed and have effect and be deemed always to have had effect as though after paragraph (b) of the proviso thereto a new paragraph were inserted in such proviso as follows, that is to say:— “(c) Any period of service under a local body which has been abolished before or after the passing of this Act shall be deemed to have been service under the local body to whom the debts and liabilities of such abolished local body have been transferred.”

Contributions to superannuation in respect of service under committees.

9.—For the purposes of section 47 of the Principal Act an officer's service under a committee of a local body shall be deemed to have been service under such local body, and an officer's service under a joint committee of two or more local bodies shall be deemed to have been service under every such local body.

Payment of superannuation to ex-officers of boards of guardians and rural district councils.

10.—(1) On and after the 1st day of April, 1927, the payment by a county council of any sums on foot of an allowance or gratuity granted to a person as compensation for his having ceased to hold office under a board of guardians, or on foot of a contribution in respect of the service of any person under a board of guardians to an allowance or gratuity granted to such person by another local body as compensation for his having ceased to hold office under such other local body shall be raised equally over the whole of the county.

(2)On and after the 1st day of April, 1927, the payment by a county council of any sums on foot of an allowance or gratuity granted to a person as compensation for his having ceased to hold office under a rural district council, or on foot of a contribution in respect of the service of any person under a rural district council to an allowance or gratuity granted to such person by another local body as compensation for his having ceased to hold office under such other local body shall be raised equally over the whole of the county excluding any urban district therein.

(3)This section shall not apply to the Council of the County of Dublin.

Rating of new buildings.

11.—(1) In this section the expression “the Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Valuation and Boundary Surveyor; the word “valuation” means valuation under the Valuation Acts, and the word “value” shall be construed accordingly; the expressions “new building” and “exemption year” have the same meanings respectively as in section 69 of the Principal Act.

(2)For the purposes of section 69 of the Principal Act and of this section the valuation of a new building which is not separately valued shall be deemed to be and always to have been such portion of the valuation of the rateable tenement or hereditament in which the new building is comprised as the Commissioner shall have determined whether before or after the passing of this Act to be properly attributable to the new building, and every such determination by the Commissioner shall be final and conclusive and not subject to any appeal.

(3)For the purposes of section 69 of the Principal Act and of this section a garage, conservatory, domestic office, or other out-office comprised in the same rateable tenement or hereditament with a private dwelling-house and primarily adapted for use and occupation in conjunction with such dwelling-house shall be deemed not to be and never to have been a separate building but to be part of the structure of such dwelling-house.

(4)A determination by the Minister that a building is or is not a new building made as a decision of a doubt, dispute, or question shall take effect at and not before the expiration of the local financial year in which such doubt, dispute, or question was raised and in any subsequent local financial year which is an exemption year the valuation of the building shall be reduced or not be reduced in pursuance of sub-section (2) of section 69 of the Principal Act according as the Minister has determined the building to be, or not to be a new building.

(5)The Minister may make rules for the following matters, that is to say:— (i) the preparation, keeping, and publication of lists of the buildings which have been determined to be new buildings; (ii) the amendment of rate books, demand notes, and other documents, and the refunding, reducing, or increasing of rates; in such manner as may be necessary to give effect to a determination that a building is or is not a new building, or to the alteration of the valuation of a rateable tenement or hereditament consisting of or comprising a new building, but no such regulation whereby any duty is imposed on the Commissioner shall be made without the consent of the Minister for Finance.

(6)The reference in sub-section (5) of section 69 of the Principal Act to the said section 69 shall be construed and have effect as a reference to that section as amended by this present section.

Partial suspension of increases in valuations of buildings.

12.—(1) In this section the expressions ‘The Commissioner’ and ‘new building’ and the word ‘valuation’ have the same meaning as in the preceding section; the word ‘tenement’ means any rateable tenement or hereditament; and the expression ‘the exemption period’ when used in relation to a tenement the valuation of which has been increased means either a period of five years from the date of such increase or the period from such date to the next date on which a general revision of valuation in an area in which such tenement is situate becomes effective, which ever of such periods is the shorter.

(2)This section shall apply to every building except the following, that is to say:— (a) houses erected under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, (b) houses in respect of which grants are made under the Housing Acts, 1925 and 1926, (c) buildings which are new buildings.

(3)This section shall apply to any increase in the valuation of a tenement, not forming part of a general revision of valuation in an area including such tenement, on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason of the erection, enlargement or improvement of a building to which this section applies which is included in such tenement, which erection, enlargement or improvement has been begun and completed during the period from the passing of this Act to the 1st day of October, 1930.

(4)Where an increase to which this section applies is made in the valuation of any tenement, the valuation of such tenement shall, for the purposes of the assessment and levying of any rate raised by a local authority for the service of any local financial year commencing during the exemption period, be deemed to be reduced by two-thirds of such increase; and any reduction in the valuation of such tenement which under section 69 of the Principal Act or this section has, previous to the making of such increase, been deemed to be made for the purposes of the assessment and levying of rates for the service of any local financial year, shall be made for the same purposes in the valuation reduced under this sub-section after the making of such increase.

(5)The Commissioner shall determine whether any increase in the valuation of a tenement made after the passing of this Act and not forming part of a general revision of valuation in an area including such tenement was so made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason of the erection, enlargement or improvement of a building to which this section applies which is included in such tenement, and such decision shall be indicated by the Commissioner on the appropriate revised valuation list, and as so indicated shall be final and conclusive and not subject to any appeal.

(6)Where an increase to which this section applies is made in the valuation of any tenement and at the time of or after the making of such increase a separate valuation is assigned by the Commissioner to a portion of such tenement not previously valued separately, the valuation of such portion immediately before the making of such increase shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have been an amount bearing to the total valuation of such tenement then in force such proportion as shall be determined by the Commissioner, who shall indicate such determination on the appropriate revised valuation list, and such determination as so indicated shall be final and conclusive and not subject to any appeal.

(7)Subject to the provisions of sub-section (5) of this section any doubt, dispute or question which shall arise as to whether an increase in the valuation of any tenement is an increase to which this section applies, or as to the duration of the exemption period for any tenement shall be decided by the Circuit Court on an application by any person interested, and such decision shall be final and conclusive and not subject to any appeal and any amendments which may be necessary to give effect to such a decision shall be made in the rate books and demand notes for rates.

(8)Section 15 of the Finance Act, 1925, shall have effect in relation to any tenement the valuation of which is deemed to be reduced under this section for the purposes of the assessment and levying of rates as it has effect in respect of a new building under section 69 of the Principal Act.

Amendment of section 60 of the Principal Act.

13.—Sub-section (3) of section 60 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that an offence under the said section 60 may be prosecuted by or at the suit of the Minister or of any person who is registered as a local government elector.

Amendment of section 86 of the Principal Act.

14.—The expression “this Act” whenever it occurs in section 86 of the Principal Act shall be construed and have effect as meaning the Principal Act as amended by this present Act and (except in sub-paragraphs (iii) and (v) of paragraph (c) of sub-section (1)), as including this present Act.

Minor amendments of the Principal Act.

15.—The amendments specified in the second column of the Third Schedule to this Act, which relate to minor details, shall be made in the sections and sub-sections of the Principal Act specified in the first column of that Schedule.

Short title, citation, and construction.

16.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Local Government Act, 1927.

(2)This Act and the Principal Act may be cited together as the Local Government Acts, 1925 and 1927.

(3)This Act shall be construed as one with the Principal Act.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

Powers and Duties Excluded from Section 2.

Powers and duties under any of the following enactments:— 1. Sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Principal Act.

Section 6

of the Principal Act.

3.The Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 and 1891.

4.The Public Libraries (Ireland) Acts, 1855 to 1920.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Enactments to be Administered by Boards of Health in Joint Districts.

The Public Health (Prevention and Treatment of Disease) (Ireland) Act, 1917.

The Midwives (Ireland) Act, 1918.

The Public Health (Medical Treatment of School Children) (Ireland) Act, 1919.

The Blind Persons Act, 1920 .

THIRD SCHEDULE.

Amendments of the Local Government Act, 1925.

Portions amended.

Manner and extent of amendment.

Section 10

, sub-section (1).

Add at the end of the sub-section the words “(with the addition of the name of the county and of any distinguishing name of the county health district).”

Section 10

, sub-section (2).

For the words:—“for such county health district” at the end of the sub-section substitute the words—“(with the addition of the name of the county and of any distinguishing name of the county health district).”

Section 13

, sub-section (2).

For the expression “county health district,” in both places where the said expression occurs, substitute the expression “functional area of the board of health.”

Section 13

, sub-section (5).

Delete the words “with the approval of the Minister.”

Section 35

, sub-section (2).

Delete the words “under this Act.”

Section 51

, sub-section (1).

For the words “twenty years' service” substitute the words “twenty-five years' service.”

Section 56

, sub-section (3).

In paragraph (b), immediately after the word “emoluments” insert the words “for each completed year of his service.”

Section 58

, sub-section (5).

Delete the words “with the approval of the Minister.”

Section 69

, sub-section (1).

In paragraph (i) for the word and figure “section 7” substitute the word and figure “section 6.”

Section 69

, sub-section (3).

For the words “the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 ,” substitute the words “any house,” and for the words “that Act” at the end of the sub-section substitute the words “the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 .”

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