Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898
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The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 a piece of legislation passed as an Act of Parliament by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1898, to establish a system of local government in Ireland on lines similar that had been recently created in Great Britain at the time.
This act brought in a mixed system of government, with county boroughs independent of county administratation, and elsewhere a two tier system with county councils, along with borough, urban district and rural district councils. Urban districts were created from the larger of the town commissioners towns, while the smaller towns retained their town commissioners, but remained in a rural district for sanitary purposes.
The creation of these local government areas had a significant effect on Ireland as it allowed the local people in Ireland to take decisions affecting themselves. It also allowed the development of a new political class, creating a significant body of experienced politicians who would enter national politics in Ireland in the 1920s, and increase the stability of the transitions to the parliaments of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, the provisions of the act were replaced in the 1970s with a pattern of unitary authorities. The act remains in force, amended by several Acts of the Oireachtas, in the Republic of Ireland.