Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we are discussing remuneration and public service pay in general, I wish to refer to the situation of local councillors. I was a councillor for 25 years before I came into this House and for the first 15 or 16 years we received no remuneration whatsoever. We were serving the people and wanted to do so. It was a joy and a thrill to be elected and we all got great satisfaction from doing the job. I have to admit that I was one of the councillors who approached the then Minister for Finance on behalf of councillors to advocate quite strongly that they should be paid for their work. I met the Minister with a fellow councillor and my local Deputy. The Minister recognised the work that councillors were doing. I am not sure whether it was him or his successor who introduced in 2001 or 2002 a salary of approximately €10,000 per annum, but for the first 15 or 16 years that I served as a councillor I received no remuneration.

Councillors are not classed as public servants in the context of this Bill, but they are public servants who serve the public, often from their own homes, on a five-day week basis. While they are paying PRSI contributions, they are not entitled to claim anything on foot of them. I ask the Minister to clarify whether they are totally excluded from the provisions of the Bill. Will they be entitled to increases in remuneration? As other Senators have said, councillors are working for far less than the minimum wage. Like others, they should benefit from the provisions of the Bill.