Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the time he has put into the House, and his interaction and commitment to interact in the future. It would not be a surprise if I told the Minister that one of my main interests in the Bill was ensuring that councillors were treated properly. I discussed the matter with the Minister before the Bill came before the House. He has made an effort in that regard and I will give credit where it is due.

The difficulty I have is that the Minister has said he would be fair to everybody, not just for a particular group, and does not want to put one group ahead of everybody else. The problem regarding councillors is that they are not the same as everybody else. There is an anomaly in the system which needs to be addressed by a specific resolution to the problem, no more than the pension scheme we have discussed.

I would reflect everything that has been said. Time will resolve the matter because the will of the majority of Members sitting in the House is to resolve this matter. In the new year legislation will come before the House. I have been in the House for five years, and I always understood that once we received the yellow papers that the amendments thereon were those that were agreed and passed, yet the on picking up the yellow pages today we discovered that amendments were ruled out of order.