He was a member of the
Young Progressive Democrats. McAuliffe contested the
2004 local elections as a
Progressive Democrats candidate in
Finglas local electoral area, but was not elected. He was first elected as a member of
Dublin City Council in
2009, for
Fianna Fáil in the
Ballymun-
Finglas local electoral area. He was re-elected following the
2014 local elections for the enlarged Ballymun local electoral area. Following the
2019 local elections, he was re-elected for Ballymun-Finglas local electoral area. In 2014, he was elected as leader of the Fianna Fáil group. In 2015, McAuliffe drafted the Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015. As chairperson of Enterprise and Economic Development, he jointly delivered the Dublin City Local Economic and Community Plan and the policy Document Dublin A City of Villages. He was chairperson of Dublin City Council's Enterprise and Economic Development Strategic Policy Committee. and the Local Community Development Committee. In June 2019, he was elected as the
Lord Mayor of Dublin, succeeding
Nial Ring. McAuliffe was supported by Fianna Fáil,
Green Party,
Labour Party and the
Social Democrats. ==Dáil Éireann==