Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of time. Recommendation 10 acknowledges the existence of the four local authorities and says that they should be retained. This is one of the big issues. It should be remembered that councillors are on the ground right across local government. They want to feel valued and respected, to be appropriately remunerated and to be empowered to represent their communities. They are elected. I am constantly taken aback by questions of legitimacy and so on. As it stands, our councillors have legitimacy by reason of their electoral mandate. The powers, the functions and finance are of concern to councillors. I want to flag that because, at the end of the day, they will ultimately be advocates either for or against the assembly's recommendations. They are strong and influential. There is work to be done with regard to the existing city and county councillors, many of whom I hope will be back after the upcoming elections. Mr. Gavin might take that on board. I do not really want a response. I just want to flag it as an issue. There is more work to be done on current city and county councillors for Dublin.

I will wrap up with one more issue, the issue of remuneration. One of the things that really struck me, and which members will have heard about from their local councillors, is the issue of their remuneration and how Mr. Gavin and the members of the assembly were shocked by the remuneration and support councillors are given to do their job. The assembly has done a good job but there is quite a lot of work to be done with sitting city and county councillors if they are to be champions and advocates for a mayor for Dublin.