Mr. Seán O'Donovan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to be here today. I am a councillor for the Bandon-Kinsale municipal district, where six elected councillors represent approximately 48,000 constituents. The role of county councillors is to represent our constituents. We are the people on the ground listening to the issues on a daily basis. When we are on the ground, we know exactly what our constituents and communities need.

Our role is local decision-making. We need stronger local democracy, more resources, more training and more respect. The power of our chief executives and central government sometimes hampers what we are trying to implement. We need to strengthen and enhance the role of councillors. If we are to encourage more people into local government, we need to be giving extra support to candidates running for election.

I believe I am the only councillor on Cork County Council with a constituency office on the main street in Bandon. The discrimination is very obvious here. I have a rates bill of €1,500 a year but if I was elected to the Seanad or to Dáil Éireann, I would not be paying rates. Councillors need to be on equal par with other elected representatives.

Every day our constituents can see the work we carry out, whether it is in housing, planning, roads, community projects or as volunteers in our communities. As councillors, we should have more powers to compel organisations, such as Uisce Éireann, to come in and meet us when we ask them to come to our meetings or even to reply to our emails, which rarely happens.

When family and friends see the constant abuse and comments on social media, they ask us why we do it. I do it because of my passion for my community that I live and work in and for the people who trusted in me when they voted for me. Threats on social media are a regular occurrence and should not be allowed to happen. We need governance and stricter enforcement for those keyboard warriors. In a society where we are all equal and democratically elected, we need more support from our Government.

I often ask myself what is the best way I can represent my constituents but find that sometimes decisions are already made for us. This is frustrating to say the least. I am only one of 949 elected county councillors in our country and I am sure all the rest of them come across the same issues that I am talking about. I appeal to this committee to implement change.