Ms Deirdre Donnelly:

I understand that. I thank the Cathaoirleach. The Government should provide a duty of care to our elected representatives. To date, I have had to pay €20,000 in medical and other expenses, which is almost my entire councillor allowance after tax for the past one and a half years. That means I have essentially been working for free. A number of Ministers and Ministers of State for local government have been made aware of my concerns. I do not think anything satisfactory has happened to date in relation to this. We have funding for security measures for councillors, which was introduced recently, but for those of us - I am not the only one - who have had bad experiences, we paid for our CCTV and other upgrades years ago. I also believe that political parties should be compelled to implement a code of conduct with regard to harassment, in particular of a sexual nature. It appears there is no official disciplinary process for such complaints. If the Government can cut party funding when gender quotas are not met, why not do the same to ensure such a code is introduced and implemented? I can provide everybody with more comprehensive details later, as I have some other documents on this.

As the 2024 local elections loom a positive emphasis has been placed on a more diverse political representation. While training and financial support are certainly important to encourage new people into political life, I believe the Government focus should also be on retention. How many will leave, disillusioned, due to our overly centralised Government with limited local powers? How many will leave because of safety concerns for themselves and their families? If we are really going to address these issues I plead for support for more decision-making powers for councillors and a much safer environment for them to serve their communities.