Local Government

The Housing Practitioners' Conference 2024: Opportunities for Sustainable Housing will take place at the Mullingar Park Hotel, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath on Thursday, 25 April and Friday, 26 April 2024 (half day).

The Conference is organised as a joint-initiative between the Institute of Public Administration and The Housing Agency.

View the Conference Agenda here.

The Housing Practitioners' Conference 2024 is now fully booked and bookings should no longer be made as they cannot be accepted.

For further information click here.

As for previous elections, the Institute of Public Administration, in conjunction with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is offering training for Local Authority staff involved in the Local and European Elections.  Workshops will be delivered in a number of locations across Ireland in February,  March and April 2024.    Due to demand, two re-count workshops have also been scheduled in April 2024.

The Local and European Election Workshops  and Re-count Workshops are designed for Returning Officers, Deputy Returning Officers, Count Supervisors and other relevant staff.

The responsibility for budget management and control is being cascaded down to individual Departments and Centres within Irish Local Government.  This creates a need for those with the responsibility for these areas and Elected Members to understand the financial processes, reports and documents that they are being asked to comment upon.

This half day Budget Management and Control for Local Government course is designed to provide the support needed by detailing the system of preparing budgets, the process by which actual expenditure is calculated and the control system used whereby actual and budgetary figures are compared to produce ‘variances’.  The process of analysing variances, for the purpose of explaining under or over spending is a key aspect of this course, in the same way that is the main means of effecting budgetary control in Local Government.

The Social Housing Fundamentals course is designed for newly appointed (technical and non-technical) staff in Local Authorities (Grades 3-6) and Approved Housing Bodies who provide social housing services.  It will provide participants with an overview of key elements of housing policy, the social housing market and housing services.  This is a one day online course and can also be delivered as bespoke course within an Irish Local Authority.

Scenarios and Roleplay Training for Housing Practitioners is a one day programme for Official Visitors to a person/s in the person/s home. This includes Local Authority Officers, Officials and Inspectors that must have access to the persons home for official reasons.

The Institute of Public Administration, working in close collaboration with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage presents the Standards for Rented Houses Training Programme. This training programme is for all staff, both professional/technical and administrative, who have responsibilities related to enforcement of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019.

The programme seeks to bring about a common understanding among Inspectorate Staff, and thereby a standardisation, in interpretation and implementation of the Regulations and guidelines both within individual local authorities and across the sector generally.

Commercial Rates Law is a one day online course that is for staff working within the Irish Local Government Sector who are dealing with the process of collecting commercial rates.

Debt Management Units have been established in Irish Local Authorities to deal with many areas of debt management including debts associated with commercial rates, housing rents and housing loans. The focus of this course centres specifically on the area of commercial rates law.

Courtroom Skills is a one-day intensive training course that is ideal for anyone who may be expected to give evidence in court in a professional capacity. Participants will learn about effective courtroom presentation and communication skills. Particular focus is placed on confidence building and assertive communication. 

Debt Collection Techniques is for staff working in Debt Management Units within the Irish Local Government Sector.

Debt Management Units have been established in Irish Local Authorities to deal with many areas of debt management including debts associated with commercial rates, housing rents and housing loans. The focus of this course centres on how staff working in these units can develop techniques to better handle and deal with the process of debt collection.

Understanding Company Accounts is a half day online course that is for staff working in Debt Management Units within the Irish Local Government Sector.

Debt Management Units have been established in Irish Local Authorities to deal with many areas of debt management including debts associated with commercial rates, housing rents and housing loans. The focus of this course centres on the management of debts associated with commercial rates.