Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was a member of Cork County Council for 13 years. It was a great honour and privilege to be co-opted on to the local authority in place of the Minister, Deputy Coveney. I think the work that councillors do on the ground is very important. That must be recognised.

Members have made good statements on the terms and conditions of councillors. We have to look at local government in its entirety and how we will drive that agenda forward. A young Fine Gael county councillor aged 28 years, Mr. Noel O'Donovan from Clonakilty, stepped out from Cork County Council. The issue is how we can ensure we can get the talent and the people we require to serve in local government. Senator Hopkins is correct, that is the real challenge and the issue of the debate. The Minister has brought forward good proposals. They are the most groundbreaking proposals since those of the then Minister, Noel Dempsey, in 2002.

The real debate will be on having a template in place between now and 2019 on how we will have a local government structure put in place to ensure that people will put themselves forward to serve in local government. My real fear is that people will not come forward to serve and that it will not be viable financially to serve on the council and they will not give it the time that is required.

We have to reform the boundaries. The local area electoral boundaries were set up in the 1850s and we need to step away from that. We also need to look at the ten-seat constituencies because they are not working. Those issues need to be looked at and sorted out in the next year so that they will be sorted out before 2019. I think we must adjust the terms and conditions to attract young people to serve on local authorities.