Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and all our councillor colleagues. We all accept that councillors up and down the country do tremendous work serving their communities and for too long they have been grossly underpaid, and maybe undervalued. Equality is very important and we cannot make fish of one and fowl of another. Quality of treatment is a sine qua nonand the imperfections must be ironed out. I look forward to engaging in further constructive dialogue and welcome what the Minister said about boundary changes, which are very necessary in lots of cases.

Of the 949 councillors in Dublin, Cork and Galway, 232 do the same kind of work, with similar duties and workloads, but are now involved in community and economic development. The Minister has found a formula for municipal areas but cities have area committees which are exactly comparable and it is essential we iron out imperfections such as this. I know the Minister will engage further with us to make the improvements that are necessary and tweak the details.