Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank committee members. I will make clear that while we are using the Chamber for the meeting, this is not a committee of the Seanad but a committee of consultation. I want to be clear on that. There are no "happy day" Senators at all today.

Our guests are very welcome. They all bring a breadth of vast experience to the process. There is a recurring theme all the time, which Mr. Dempsey summed up. We will meet 13 or 14 councillors this afternoon. I read all their submissions this week, which all mentioned being valued, respected and so on. It is important our focus must always remain on the role of the councillor. Many of the contributors touched on the issue of the rebalancing of powers and functions. That is the problem. Glossing things up by calling for an elected mayor will not change anything. I am not even convinced the Government is convinced it will go ahead with an elected Dublin mayor. I am of the decided view that there is no commitment to drive an elected mayor for Dublin. That is my take on it, for what it is worth.

To go back to the question, the three key issues, and Deputy Phelan touched on this, relate to funding. We have to address the issue of local government funding. Until we address that, we are going nowhere. Let us be real here. You can have all the powers you like, but if you do not have the resources and the funding, that is it. I will make one ask, which sums it all up. Councillors want to have the confidence, the power and the function, but they need independent advice. The reality is, and councillors will tell us, they cannot rely on or do not always have confidence in the advice they are given by their chief executive. There are three asks, which are also central to addressing this issue. Councillors ask, and they are right to do so and should have it, for recourse to independent planning advice, independent legal advice and independent financial advice. They need to get and secure that. They can get a second opinion from their chief executive on his advice, but that is not the answer because he procured that advice. Will our guests touch on how we could beef that up, or strengthen that, and put a protocol or process in place that would give councillors independent planning advice, independent financial advice and independent legal advice?

I again thank our guests for their engagement. I particularly thank Deputy Howlin because he came here and apologised clearly and unambiguously about town councils. Nearly every submission we will hear from councillors this afternoon will talk about their desire for town councils to be resurrected.