Mr. Patrick Connor-Scarteen:

I will start with concerns on excessive administrative requirements for local elected members. Our final concern with the draft Bill is the potential onerous administrative obligations that compliance with the Bill will place on our members, particularly if our members are classed as category A officials with the highest level of obligations. Our members serve at local authority level with minimal secretarial and administrative backup. The obligation to make declarations three times per annum if their circumstances have changed and the obligation, in certain circumstances, to retain statements for up to a 15-year period will undoubtedly place serious administrative problems on our members and we would request that this be taken into consideration in determining the classification for our elected members at local authority level.

In conclusion, the Association of Irish Local Government and the Local Authority Members Association endeavour to bring to the fore the voices of elected members who are rooted in their own communities and work for their communities on a daily basis. We acknowledge the work of this important committee and pledge that we will play our part on behalf of all elected members to work alongside the committee and we look forward to continuing to contribute its work. We thank the Chairman and the committee members for listening to our submission and will be glad to take questions that the members may have.