Fionnuala May, County Architect with Fingal County Council, would like to see a designated architects department in every local authority, and the new President of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) tells ‘Council Review’ she wants to promote the value that her profession can bring to city and county councils during her two-year term as RIAI President.
Fionnuala May started her two-year term as RIAI President on 1 January for 2026-2027, and is only the fifth woman in the Institute’s 187-year history to take on the role. She previously served as Vice-President and Council member and has contributed across many areas of the Institute, including education, conservation and governance.
She also becomes one of the very few RIAI Presidents to hold the role while working in a local authority. Ms May has worked with Fingal County Council for over 30 years and has been its County Architect since 2011. During her career she has worked to strengthen the position of the architect within the public service and promote the role of architecture in public policy.
Speaking recently to ‘Council Review’, she described her election as RIAI President as ‘an absolute honour’. She sees the role as representing her profession in as many fora as possible and advocating on behalf of all architects, whether they operate as lone practitioners, work for large firms, or are employed in the public sector.
The number of architects registered with the RIAI has grown in recent years, reaching over 5,000 members in 2025. Ms May estimates that around 500 of those who work in public service, are spread across government departments, state agencies and city and county councils. And one of her main wishes now as RIAI President is to see a department for architects in every local authority.
Fionnuala May leads a team of 19 architects in Fingal County Council, as part of a multidisciplinary department that also includes quantity surveyors and technologists.
“We’d like to see an architects’ department in every local authority,” she said. While this is currently not the case, she has seen some progress in getting the profession more involved in the work of local government. “The number (of local authority architects) is increasing – it’s just that they’re being employed under different headings from what they may have been in the past,” she explained.
“Architects are not just being employed for social housing, they’re also involved in other projects to do with urban design, active travel, and many new schemes that are coming on stream. Architects are contributing to those programmes and are being employed specifically for that purpose.”
With Fingal County Council, Ms May leads a team of 19 architects as part of a multidisciplinary department that also includes quantity surveyors and technologists. The team designs and carries out a range of projects for Fingal, as well as working closely with outside agencies when required.
“We’re practitioners ourselves, we also employ consultant teams, and I think that makes for a much happier collaboration in that we understand the issues, having to do it every day.” Her department has a broad remit, covering new social housing construction and maintenance of existing stock. It also includes staff dedicated to public buildings, as well as a conservation office that handles the county’s heritage sites, and a construction economics team.
