Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a need for the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to recognise the additional workload county councillors have since the enactment of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 and to carry out a survey of all councillors, in conjunction with their representative bodies, to ascertain how these changes have affected their personal, professional and public lives.

I welcome the Minister and I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for facilitating this debate as it must be held. The number of local authorities has been reduced from 114 to 31. Members of the public talk about political reform but they need to know what is really happening. There were 114 councils and that number has been reduced to 31, including the abolition of town councils. That is 83 fewer councils. The number of councillors has been reduced from 1,627 to 949, a reduction of 678 or almost 42%. Some might call that rationalisation, but that reduction in the number of councillors is phenomenal. I believe the public does not realise what reductions have been made. Counties have been divided into municipal districts, with county councillors also being district councillors. Any councillor who is not doing 30 or 40 hours a week is not doing their job. That is a fact.

My brother is a councillor, although I am not raising this matter on his behalf. We all know councillors and we are in this House because of councillors. The additional workload that has been put on the shoulders of councillors is unbelievable. As I said, any councillor who is not doing 30 or 40 hours a week is not doing their job, so it is a full-time job. However, the remuneration package and the supports in place do not recognise that. They are not appropriate to a full-time job. I am afraid that this will decimate the calibre of the councillors we will have in the future. It will be a case of only the wealthy need apply, due to the workload involved. It will be interesting to see what happens.

One of the terms often used in politics, which I absolutely hate, is "unintended consequence". One often hears it. The unintended consequence of this legislation being enacted will be that councillors will walk away. I have been talking to councillors and I can genuinely state that they will walk away unless something is done on their behalf. Waterford's city and county councils have been merged, as have Limerick's city and county councils and North Tipperary County Council and South Tipperary County Council. I am a former councillor so I know the workload that is involved, but since the municipal districts have been introduced for councillors there are meetings every day of the week, so councillors are engaged in their job every day of the week. If they are expected by us as legislators or by the public as their representatives to do a full-time job, they must be given the required supports and remunerated properly.