Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses are all very welcome. I truly value the work that each and every one of them does within the community.

When I was elected to office here in 2020, the first thing I set about doing, on which I worked very hard with my Independent colleagues, was getting councillors the pay rise. The pay they got in 2019 was deplorable. Why anyone did the job for just €17,500 per year, I just do not know. The pay has improved because we lobbied like mad for that to happen. We lobbied to make sure councillors would get €2,500 towards a security allowance to keep their homes and offices safe. That was very important to me because I was once attacked as a councillor.

It is great to see Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael engaged in this cross-party effort on councillors, but we must remember that the systemic disempowerment of councillors we are witnessing is happening under the current Government. Let us think of a few things it has removed. It has removed the section 183 reserved function for the disposal of council-owned lands to the Land Development Agency. It has removed the Part 8 reserved planning functions until the end of this year for councils' housing developments. It has removed councillors from governing authorities of universities under the Higher Education Authority Act 2022. Councillors will be removed from joint policing committees once they are replaced by safety partnerships. Legislation in this regard is going through the Dáil. Councillors must leave it to Government Senators and Deputies from their parties if they want things to remain the same. Councillors must not allow them to take away their power. We can do only so much in here as Independents; we just do not have the power. We will shout on councillors' behalf but it is their own parties – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party – that will ultimately take away their powers. It certainly will not be done by any Independent here.