Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I welcome the Minister to the House, in which he has recently been spending much time. The Bill has been long awaited, particularly by those of us who are members of local authorities. My colleague, Senator Tuffy, has clearly elucidated some legal issues, so I will speak about the political aspect of the Bill.

This is a short Bill, designed specifically to abolish the dual mandate. In other words, its aim is to prevent Members of the Oireachtas, ourselves included, from also serving on local authorities. There are different sides to the issue. From a logical point of view, in order to do one's job properly, either as a Member or as a councillor, one should not mix or be involved in both areas. That makes sense, given that in recent years the amount of work for county councillors has increased considerably. I am aware of this on foot of my membership of a county council, an SPC and, consequently, a joint library committee. One needs to concentrate on the policy side through the SPC. It is easy to see why the two jobs should be separated.

Like many Members, I have put a great deal of thought into this matter. Local and national politics are intertwined, particularly in this House. When this matter first came up for debate during the term of the last Dáil, I made the point that the relationship between Senators and councillors is different from, for example, that of Deputies and councillors. The reason is that we are elected by councillors and, therefore, have a direct relationship with local government. Being a member of a local authority is important in terms of one's relationship with county councillors. I have discussed this with a number of county councillors and I know they would like to feel that the route we took to get here was reflected in our work. This special relationship should be reflected in the legislation, but that is not the case. The Bill makes no distinction between Senators and Deputies, regardless of whether those Senators are elected by councillors. I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts on this issue.