Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If that is the case, I would hope that it would be index-linked. Otherwise this €1,000 will be hanging out there on its own and it will never increase or decrease. I hope it will not decrease. How will it increase? Will it be by ministerial regulation or will it be index-linked? I would ask the Minister of State to look at that. My reading of the €1,000 is that it would be different. Therefore, the councillor's salary will still be linked to the Senator's pay in all other aspects and this is an additional payment.

As regards travelling expenses, it is complex the way the Department has it all put together. Councillors' pay and expenses, and the regulations, should be simplified. Councillors have gone through those regulations and they do not seem to know what they are entitled to or how their pay and expenses are made up. There should only be one band of expenses per kilometre, whether it is 30 cent, 50 cent, 60 cent or whatever, rather than for a certain number of miles here and there because it will balance out at the end of the day anyway.

Members who choose to claim vouched expenses for the period 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017 must provide written notification to the local authority within ten days of the circular letter that the Department circulated in the past number of days. Councillors may have expenses between now and the end of the year that they will not be able to claim for. The Minister of State has come with this new circular and they may not have time to submit all of their expenses. I would ask that the Minister of State allow some leeway in that regard or else postpone the commencement until 1 January, the first week of January or whatever, so that expenses councillors would have incurred will not be left out.

We are all familiar with the work and value of councillors in an area. It was spelt out by the two previous speakers. We have seen the considerable areas that councillors are looking after and representing since the previous local elections. In my area, the third largest county in the country, there are four municipal districts some of which are nearly 100 miles long. One of them goes from the Sligo border to the Galway border, right through Mayo. These are huge geographical areas. To be quite honest, councillors are not half compensated to attend community council meetings and various other meetings within those large areas. There should be no vouching at all. Councillors should get a specific amount of money. The vouching issue should be looked at. After all, their time is valuable.

Many councillors are working in addition to being councillors. They are trying to keep record of where they are and what meetings they have to go to, and keep account of their expenses, etc. As I said this to the previous Minister, Deputy Coveney, and I repeat to the Minister of State, what is €2,500 one way or the other, whether it is vouched or unvouched? It is only peanuts in the long run. I would ask that the Minister of State would look at the vouched end of it and get rid of vouching completely. It is €100 a week. It is nearly a miscellaneous expense for councillors but they have to keep records, etc., throughout the year to get it.

In response to Senator Craughwell, the Taoiseach brought in the contributory pension for councillors.