Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here and, more importantly, for their work and leadership in their communities. Reference was made earlier to people not following in the footsteps of family members in politics. I did follow and knew what I was getting into. Also, I came from an environment where I knew acutely what it was like to feel under threat. Your commitment to your values and your hard work keep you going. So, too, does your success rate. If you do not feel you are making the change you got into politics for, it diminishes your self-worth and does not inspire others to take up the mantle in communities. This has been heard very clearly today and needs to be taken very seriously. Community members used to say I should go into politics because I was an activist. On the day I went into politics, I was greeted with cynicism. We have to tackle that. Sometimes the abuse we get is actually from other political representatives. Do the witnesses believe we need to be talking about a code of practice for political representatives?

We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, not just because of centralised democracy but also because of management, which does not want to take on additional responsibilities. When I examine what is done in the context of childcare and municipal responsibilities in other European countries, I see opportunities for the councils but feel the pushback from our chief executives. I question whether there is enough oversight of the chief executives' work.

I would like to witnesses to feed back on those two issues, if possible.