Ms Máirín McGrath:

Táim buíoch as an gcuireadh seo, agus is mór an onóir dom a bheith anseo inniu. I am a first-time serving councillor. I was elected at the age of 21 and I am very glad of the opportunity to reflect on my role as a public representative here today.

I have had the opportunity to take part in the young elected politicians programme with the Committee of the Regions in Brussels since my election. It is in those engagements with my European counterparts that I realise how weak our local government structure is in Ireland. It is embarrassing and somewhat insulting that there is such little regard for our councillors, the representatives who are at the coalface of the political system in Ireland. Therefore, the recent report from the Council of Europe highlighting Ireland's underfunded local government system came as absolutely no surprise. In fact, the same body issued another damning report back in 2013 warning that Ireland's local government was too centralised at that time. That was a year before the so-called "putting people first" Local Government Reform Act was enacted in 2014, seeing the last of our town councils and the devolution of many powers from councillors and local government. This really did the opposite of putting people first because the public were and still are the biggest losers in this saga.

Local authorities have little power and we have reducing autonomy to carry out the most basic services we once were expected to do. We are critically under-resourced and underfunded, and I see this particularly in the areas of road funding and essential maintenance because we are micromanaged by the likes of TII and the NTA. Successive governments have prioritised central control over local democracy, but we have an unbelievable level of overreach from Departments, State bodies and their policies. A one-size approach does not and should not work in national policymaking.

A reserved function of local authority members is the formation of county development plans and local area plans.

I valued the opportunity I had over the last couple of years to be involved in both processes. However, it became increasingly clear that the power of the councillors to form their own plans is being eroded due to the overriding power of the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR. It was set up to ensure transparency and oversight in development plan making, or so we understood. Its powers are much greater than that. The OPR dictates and overrules councillors. The locally-elected representatives should have the ultimate power to make our own development plans and as a rural councillor who deals with a lot of planning queries, I just despair at some of the regulations we face daily in our representative role.

Another example that has been raised is the removal of water services from county councils to Uisce Éireann. It has been an unmitigated disaster and the exasperation of the public, particularly in south Tipperary, is immense. Centralisation of public services does not work and I should not have to ring a call centre in Cork to report a water outage in a rural village in south Tipperary.

I am one of the youngest councillors in the country at the moment. However, I see a huge issue with the retention of young, first-time councillors. As many will know I have been engaged in politics since forever, in that I grew up in a political family. How else would I be mad enough to be in this role? I am fortunate to work as a part-time secretarial assistant in the Houses of the Oireachtas with Deputy Mattie McGrath. This affords me the opportunity to act as a full-time and flexible public representative. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that because I see from councillors here today and in my own chamber the difficulties they have in balancing their role as public representatives with a second employment that is not engaged with the political system. The role is hands-on. We are always at the end of the phone. It is considered to be a part-time job but it is not. It is a role that needs proper respect, resources and subsistence.

My final point is that in preparation for today, I watched the previous session of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee that took place back in November. The councillors here and then were raising a lot of the same issues. One of the issues raised in November was the concerns about the joint policing committees structures and model changing to community safety partnerships. The concern councillors had was about the removal of the councillor's role within this model. Councillors are the first port of call in communities for all sorts of issues including crime and antisocial behaviour. However, despite this being raised as an issue in November, in December Senators here still passed and progressed the legislation for this model and this was disappointing to see. I ask that what we are saying here will actually be taken on board and acted upon.

I will conclude by saying that I enjoy my role despite the frustrations I have aired over the last couple of minutes. I love and cherish the past four and a half years I have had as a local community representative and public representative. I can honestly say that every day, I have learned something new in the role. The job brings many unique encounters and experiences but it is becoming increasingly difficult to do the job the public elected us to do. I wish the committee well in its work. I hope that by virtue of us being here, what we are saying will be taken on board by the powers that be and acted upon in order that for councillors now and into the future, the public's faith can be restored in local government structures. At the core of it all I hope that the services local government provides will improve for the locality and its people. Go raibh míle maith agat a Chathaoirligh.