Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is fine because what I have to say is that I fully support the proposals. Councillors need to be properly paid and they are not. I welcome the suggestions that have been made. I appreciate that the Minister of State is not showing us his entire hand of cards at the moment. Councillors cannot just be sitting there quietly. They must have real powers to challenge officials and they also need access to other specialist knowledge. If there is a policy difference between a council and the executive the elected members should be able to get legal and other advice separately.