A local electoral area (LEA; Irish: toghlimistéar áitiúil)[1] is an electoral area for elections to local authorities in Ireland. All elections use the single transferable vote. The Republic of Ireland is divided into 166 LEAs, with an average population of 28,700 and average area of 423.3 square kilometres (163.4 sq mi). The boundaries of LEAs are determined by order of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, usually based on lower-level units called electoral divisions (EDs), with a total of 3,440 EDs in the state.
As well as their use for electoral purposes, LEAs are local administrative units in Eurostat NUTS classification.[2] They are used in local numbers of cases of COVID-19.[3]
- ^ "Fógraíonn an tAire Sláinte Stephen Donnelly TD eolas áitiúil nua atá ag dul beo ar Mhol Sonraí COVID-19". www.gov.ie. 19 September 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
- ^ "Correspondence between the NUTS levels and the national administrative units". Eurostat. 11 June 2020. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ "Minister Donnelly announces new local information going live on the COVID-19 Data Hub". www.gov.ie. 19 September 2020. Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.