Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I agree with all that has been stated already. I served as a councillor for the past 17 years -15 years on a city council and then two years on the amalgamated council - prior to being elected to the House. I welcome the fact that the Minister is bringing forward increases and that changes are coming is to be commended. I went full-time into politics in 2008 when I was on the city council, the reason being that the workload was increasing and I was very busy. We are now looking at the creation of a two-tier system. At the end of the day, councillors, be they city councillors, county councillors, or both, are all public representatives. The document that was circulated by the Department referred to public representatives in a lot of cases but then there was the division into a two-tier arrangement. This is something that I would like the Minister to examine. From my experience as a city councillor and as a councillor in the amalgamated council, I must say that the workload has increased for everyone, regardless of whether they represent city or county. They all have local community development committees, LCDCs, both in the city and the county, and there are many voluntary organisations. Further, the work of a councillor is not 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days a week. Often there are meetings at night-time or early in the morning. Councillors link the community with the local authority and the national authority. This is something that we perhaps have to examine on a cross-party basis. All public representatives should be supported and councillors should be given a proper salary and considered in a fair manner.