Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to the amendments. The Minister of State may have to return another day to address the issues raised by the previous speaker. There is an agreement in the Seanad, facilitated by the Leader, that we would all work together to advance the rights of councillors. As the Senator stated, their workload has expanded and they now represent over 4,000 people each rather than 1,000 people. It is a major workload involving secretarial work, expenses and mileage allowances. The Leader has facilitated an agreement that we will work towards that. Perhaps the Minister of State or the Minister will return in the near future to discuss all the very important issues that we want to raise. That will not be today, as this is Committee Stage, so we will stick to the amendments.