Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will share my five minutes with Senator Craughwell. I believe it was appropriate to alter the Order of Business today to raise this issue of councillors. I am delighted that there now appears to be cross-party consensus and I believe that is the way to go. It is appropriate that we work together. Across the House, we all have our own personal experiences in local government.

I wish to tee up four items that I would like us to consider.I will not go into the details now, as we will have that opportunity later. The issues are representational payments, fixed annual allowances, class K PRSI contributions and elected members' gratuity payments. I have not chosen these four off the top of my head. During the election, a commitment circulated to everyone listed these four requirements. It is important that we have a clear message, focus and target in the task ahead of us. I thank everyone for reaching a consensus. We can work together for the betterment of local councillors and local government.