Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No, it is not that, a Chathaoirligh, it is the common consolidated corporate tax base. A total of 80% of our corporation tax is coming from multinationals and we need to protect our tax base. It is what keeps the lights on and what keeps the country running. It is a very significant part of our overall revenue stream and we must be vigilant as to how CCCTB develops.

I echo the concerns of other speakers. I welcome what the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government has done in terms of councillors but I am concerned at the idea that 232 of 949, almost a quarter of the councillors, including all 183 in Dublin, 31 in Cork city and another 18 in Galway city, will not get the municipal district allowance.

My former local authority is Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council where we had two area committees with 20 members each. Those area committees were larger than many county councils around the country, for example, Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan in terms of members, and the chair of the committee got no allowance. That was fine but people chairing municipal districts with as few as six members were getting allowances of €6,000 a year for chairing them. Equally, we are now being told members of municipal districts, which is about three quarters of councillors, will not get the allowance. They deserve the money.

I question the idea that councillors in Dublin city, Cork city and Galway city will not get an allowance or recognition that they are working as hard as everybody else. In fact, quite often it is a function of having better broadband that one tends to get a lot more queries and more immediate responses are required for that reason. Councillors in Dublin, Cork and Galway should be included in any measures and I do not believe it is appropriate to have a two-tier system for councillors. I would like the Minister to come to the House and to address us on the issue.