Dr. Michael Clark:

I made a point about how we deal with ourselves at meetings and organise speaking time, so I will rigorously try to speak for less than two minutes. This meeting has been symbolic of the issue. Everyone here, with some notable exceptions, has spoken for longer than allocated and our gracious chairperson has given us leniency that has allowed the meeting to overrun. That is what has happened at every council meeting I have attended in the past five years. If we are to take ourselves seriously as elected representatives, we have to be more rigorous when it comes to time-keeping. I would not accept going over time, as we have all done, in one of the debates I run for first-year students in schools. I will try to limit my contribution to two minutes.

As regards councillors in meetings, we are the most time poor people in the room. We are the least well-paid people, and definitely the least well-read people, in the room, but are the most accountable people in the room. That is a scenario that cannot continue into the future because there is a disconnect.

I was particularly intrigued by Senator Joe O'Reilly's idea. I am lucky that my employer facilitates my work as a county councillor. I like being a teacher and county councillor. When I talk about pay and expectations, perhaps expectations could be lowered and pay does not have to rise. It is a two-way street. I like the fact that I am more connected to human beings by my work than some people in the Oireachtas - and excluding anyone in this room - who are inside ivory towers. I like the connection but I cannot continue to sustain it in the long term.

As regards the local powers Act of 2014, there were few town councils in Dublin already. Dublin was already under-represented at local government level so the changes in Dublin were not massive. That is a matter which Councillor Colgan raised. If we had a level of employer flexibility, we could allow people to be both public representatives and full-time workers in other walks of life. It would be a big decision for all of us to become full-time politicians. I will leave it there and thank the committee for the time.