Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Phelan, for being a man of his word. He said he would deliver within a period, and I think he was probably a week or two late. I also welcome his remarks on putting a review in place. It is about time that somebody had the guts to stand up and say we need to look at the work of our local representatives. Let us reflect on the role of our councillors. They are the foot soldiers for the political system in Ireland. They are the people who will go out on a rainy night when an election is called and will walk the length and breadth to get those of us who are elected to this House elected one way or the other. What reward have we given them down through the years for this? Very little. What recognition have we given them? Very little. As my colleague, Senator Paul Daly, said the local councillor is the first point of call for members of their community. One councillor told me that he cannot go to the toilet but some fellow will stand beside me and talk to him about a planning issue, a medical card, a bus pass or a septic tank, you name it. Nobody else in politics suffers the same level of exposure to the community as county councillors. They are in their community 24/7 for 365 days a year.

Naturally in the course of the election for the Seanad I met councillors. I met councillors who sit into their cars and drive to people's homes to help them with official documentation. They sit in people's houses late at night, filling in forms and helping people because they understand the system. There is nothing sharp about what they are doing, they are doing what they were elected to do.

I cannot understand why we always take the mean approach. Why can we not stand up, clap these people on the back and recognise them for what they do? We should not be ashamed to tell the public that we are going to pay these people a decent wage. What is the problem with that? I know Deputy Phelan is a decent man who is trying to do a decent job. I make no apology to anybody in Ireland for the salary I am paid, for the salary that Deputies are paid or for highlighting the miserable pittance that county councillors are paid. I make no apology for asking for the 40% increase that my colleague just adverted to for county councillors. In fact 40% is too little.

I want to focus on the word "allowance", because I get a representational allowance as a Senator that is not my salary, on which tax and PRSI is not charged. Why do we have a different rule for county councillors? They are not employees. There is no contract of employment and yet we apply tax, social insurance and the universal social charge to the miserable few shillings they get. Let me illustrate what the knock-on effect of that for a councillor who lost his or her job that paid €60,000 per annum. Having lost his or her job, he or she moves to a social welfare payment and now this individual councillor has been told, following an appeals process, that his or her entitlement is €4 a week. Why? He or she has a county councillor's salary. It is not a salary. It is an allowance. We need to go back and look at this. It is an allowance and not a salary.

I cannot dwell on PRSI because I have a High Court case pending on class K PRSI, which I intend to win and I think that Members will find at the end of day that I will win the case. I am not going to comment on class K PRSI. Under the auspices of the PRSI system the State has been stealing 4% of the income of councillors, if we are going to call it income, and we need to sort out whether it is an allowance or an income, from men and women over 66 years of age. There is no other citizen in this country who pays PRSI beyond that age. When will that PRSI be refunded to them? Better still, could the Minister get councillors their contributory old age pension from the money they paid, because they have paid the equivalent? The pension entitlement for county councillors needs to be looked at retrospectively. Anybody who paid the 4% is entitled to it.

I do not want to dash what the Minister of State has done regarding the increase. He inherited an issue on which he delivered and for which he must be complimented. An increase of €1,000 works out at €10 a week after tax. That would not put three gallons of petrol in the car. It is an outrage, an insult. We need to go back and I would like the Minister of State to give us a timeline for the review.

I wish to raise the issue of equality that applies to the female representatives in Leinster House and in every county council in the country. A county councillor delivers a baby on Friday and on Monday he or she-----