Local elections are generally held every five years. At these elections, members of the local community elect Councillors to represent the community in local authorities. The actual polling day, which must be in May or June, is the same in all areas. It is fixed by order of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. The Minister also fixes the polling period which must last at least 12 hours between 07:00am and 10:30pm.'The responsibility for conducting the election to each local authority rests with the local authority returning officer. The cost of running the election is met by the local authority.'The 2014 Local Elections were held on Friday 23rd May, the same day as voting in the European Elections and two Dil by elections (Dublin West and Longford Westmeath). Polling took place between 7am and 10pm.'The nomination period for Local Elections opened at 10am on Saturday 26 April and ended at 12 noon on Saturday 3 May. As this was a bank holiday weekend, candidates had until noon on Tuesday 6 May to withdraw their nominations.'Further information is available from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government website http://www.environ.ie/en/LocalGovernment/Voting/LocalElections'Data from most Local Authorities was published on http://data.localgov.ie based on the principles of Freedom of Information and the Reuse of Public Sector Information.