Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, and to save time I endorse everything that my previous two colleagues have said. As the Minister is aware, a Fianna Fáil motion supported by all parties and none was passed in July of last year. That called on us all to work together to see what we could do to benefit our hard-working councillors. The Minister was good enough to meet with us and we had a long, detailed meeting. We put forward the arguments that we felt best supported the councillors. I am disappointed that the Minister did not come back to us before he made his announcement. However, the Minister has made the announcement and we are where we are. We accept what the Minister has put before us with concerns that we will outline privately, as well as what my colleagues have put on the record here. There is not enough time to do it and to repeat it here again.

We are all proud, as is the Minister, of our councillors. I am proud of the work they do for their communities. They are at the coal face on a daily basis in their communities, working hard for them. It is time that we gave them the respect they deserve and tackle head-on the representational allowance. Taking bits from here and there is not good enough. They should be linked, at a minimum, to a third of a Senator's salary, and given some of the basic respect that they are entitled to.