Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Fundamentally, the directly elected mayors will be underpinned by the legislation. Like everything in life, there probably will be elements in respect of which people will have questions but I am determined that we get legislation that is fit for purpose. It will be then up to the Government to decide when the election will be held. It will be held.

Senator Hoey referred to local authorities being able to digitally record meetings and provide access to them. A pilot scheme is currently being rolled out in the Department to encourage local authorities to do just that. She is aware that some local authorities have gone ahead and put in online access.

Senator Black referred to a request by Dublin city councillors in respect of municipal waste collection. I will follow up on that.

On the issues raised by Senator O'Loughlin, we are doing a review of the housing adaptation grants. A review has not taken place since 2014. We are finalising that review and will be going to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform with a proposal on it. I agree that the AILG and LAMA do great work. I have met with them on many occasions. She made reference to the gratuity. She raised the issue of the scheme brought in to ensure the security of Oireachtas Members. We are currently finalising a proposal. The scheme is up and running for all Oireachtas Members. I gave a commitment to bring in a similar scheme for councillors. We are currently finalising a submission to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and that will be going in shortly. I take on board the baseline review.

Senator Cummins referred to ensuring councillors are adequately resourced. That is my aim and task as Minister of State with responsibility for that area. He spoke about the development plan process. A body of work needs to be done in that regard, to include education of councillors in respect of how it works. We need councillors. It is a new and legalistic area and councillors need to understand it. My experience is that councillors are better than anyone else at getting down to the nitty gritty and exploring how it affects their areas. I want that to work. He referred to aligning the budgetary process and the LPT. We will certainly work on that. He made a constructive suggestion regarding consideration of capital projects within the sphere of local authorities under the surplus that is present this year in terms of once-off spending.

Senator Blaney referred to the issue of higher education boards. I cannot comment on that. It falls under another Department. He referred to the gratuity, which I have covered. He also referred to county development plans, education and Irish Water. I take those points on board. As regards the issue of councillors' pay, they get an increase under pay agreements. Increments do not apply. I will look into it.

The Cathaoirleach is a long-time advocate of local government. The points he raised were well made. He referred to the issue of a directly elected mayor. As he is aware from his native county of Cork-----