Frances Black (Independent)
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I thank everyone most sincerely for coming in to share their ideas and perspectives with us. I thank Fórsa, the PPN, the Irish delegation to the European Committee of the Regions and, of course, the councillors. We have heard from organisations, former Ministers with responsibility for local government and councillors, who have brought varied and valuable insights that have been fascinating. I am learning so much and it has been fascinating to engage with, but I am very glad to also be hearing from members of the public. I wanted to acknowledge that. We are here to serve the interests of those here and this is a modest expression of direct democracy. This whole process reflects the deliberative and exploratory role of the committee and the Seanad more broadly and I thank the Cathaoirleach for that, as well as Senator Cassells for being the rapporteur. We have the space here to create a more open environment to discuss these issues than is available in the often fiery and contentious atmosphere that can happen in the Dáil. I am going to throw out some questions, but unfortunately I will have to leave due to an emergency commitment. I will not be able to hear the answers, so apologies for that.

When I was first elected to the House in 2016, I was rather surprised at how often local issues are brought up. That reflects the lack of powers vested in local government. Then there is the separate issue of the Seanad being seen as a staging post for election to the Dáil. Do our guests think the prevalence of local issues at national level undermines faith in local democracy? That is the first question.

When the former Ministers with responsibility for housing spoke to the committee, there was broad agreement the abolition of town councils was a mistake and other Senators have brought this up. I would like to hear from our guests about whether they think those councils should be restored.

As a final point, I wanted to highlight that having secretarial support and the assistance of researchers and independent legal advice from the OPLA are essential for Members of the Oireachtas to do their job diligently and get through all the day's tasks efficiently, so I honestly do not know how councillors cope without that support and help. What kind of supports do our guests think would be most helpful?