Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Could the Senator allow me to finish? I tabled an amendment seeking a review of the representational payment and the treatment of councillors in respect of PRSI, sick pay and pensions. Perhaps the Minister of State will tell me why when Members of this House get elected, they get a booklet giving them all their terms and conditions of employment. One of the things mentioned in this booklet is the opportunity to make voluntary contributions under PRSI to secure an entitlement to an old age pension. Today, I received from county councils the terms that are handed to councillors. No councillor is advised of his or her entitlement to make voluntary contributions to PRSI thus leaving him or her without a pension. There are councillors in this country over 66 years of age who do not have a red bloody cent and we are sitting here pretending we care about them. We are supposed to be debating their issue and we talk about all-party motions. I set out to try to put something together under class K PRSI. I asked for the assistance of all parties and got bloody well none.

What we are doing here is an outrage. We should be debating the motion and putting the Minister on the spot because councillors around this country get a miserable €8,000 per year. Does anybody take a cent out of Members' public representative allowance? Nobody does. Why are we calling the representational payment a salary when it is not? Councillors are not paid salaries. They do not have terms and conditions of employment. They are being treated in a most appalling way and the 2014 Act has only made their terms and conditions worse.

If we really cared about councillors, we would be doing something about it and not talking about it. Perhaps those old parties we are talking about are more concerned about their electoral possibilities in the forthcoming general election and do not want to be seen to increase any politician's pay. Councillors are getting a miserable €8,000 after tax, USC and other deductions are made. It is simply not enough. We have doubled their areas. There are councillors who cover hundreds of miles. It is not right. I do not know how many councillors are here. Councillors expecting a report from this and they expected we would have done them the courtesy of providing one. Members' told them we would debate the motion and I asked this morning that we would also be given time to debate the amendment to the motion. What has happened here is disgusting and an outrage. I am deeply disappointed in the Members' of this House.