Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work the Minister has done on this issue and his efforts to resolve it. Like Senator Frank Feighan, I too was elected in 1999. Working in the private sector, one finds oneself working 16 to 18 hours a day between the private sector job and trying to do what basically was and is a voluntary undertaking. If we consider the salaries that are paid to councillors, when more and more councillors are expected to be engaged on a full-time basis, especially in urban areas, in many ways we are excluding ordinary people from being active in democracy. It is a thankless job in many ways, but they are expected to be available to the public 12 to 14 hours a day. In urban areas, they have to attend area committee meetings, local forums and policing forums - the list goes on - as well as having several directorships and being on regeneration boards, which are all unpaid and are all demanding. There is also the criterion that if one does not attend X amount of meetings, one loses one's position.

If we want to allow what I would call an ordinary working person to be involved in democracy in some way, we have to recognise that there is a cost to them and their families. If we are going to pay them a very low amount, people that are working in the private sector who are not self-employed or members of the legal profession will not be able to get involved in their communities and councils. Given how driven it is, it is not possible to manage a career in the private sector and make a contribution to one's local community.

I have asked the Minister to re-examine the situation concerning urban councillors and their treatment under the legislation and to re-examine the work done on the area committees and whether a chair of an area committee should get some financial reward. I was chair of an area committee. Having looked back on the records relating to the workload involved, there would possibly be four or five meetings with the area manager on preparing the area committee and ensuring that the right people were there to deal with the questions and the issues raised and then to follow-up with the area committee. That is what a proactive chair of an area committee does. In fact, many city councils would not work effectively without active area committees because local area issues keep coming to the surface at city council meetings when area committees do not work.

I honestly recognise that the Minister has made sincere efforts in this area but ask him to look at how urban councillors are being treated. I also support Senator Denis Landy's proposal. We need to break the link between their salaries and that of Senators and have an independent look at what they are paid.