Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I do not know if I have had the opportunity to congratulate him in public on his appointment. Having worked with him on the Council of Europe, I am well aware of his great ability and commitment and I know he will bring that to his Ministry. I am also happy that he has been proactive and come forward with an improvement package very early in his term. I also share the concerns about some aspects of it and I hope the review will improve matters, but I acknowledge what the Minister of State has done.

It merits repetition that our democracy depends on our councillors. They keep democracy going. We have both served on the Council for Europe and know that democracy should not be taken for granted. The functioning of our whole community depends on councillors in many instances. They provide leadership and initiative at local community level. The output from their work is quite enormous for the quality of life of so many people. Their work is challenged now by the larger areas and it has made it very difficult. On the way here I checked with one or two of my colleagues and they have had around ten meetings this week of various types.

I am happy with the increase of €1,000 and that it is now available to all councillors in the country. It is an improvement on the initial proposal. I hope that will increase in the review, but it is a step in the right direction. The extra €2,500 is welcome, but I share the concerns raised about vouching. The amount of money in question is small; Senator Burke suggested it amounts to about €100 a week. Vouching for that is a very onerous task. If it was a larger sum of money, I would support the principle, but it is a very onerous task for that sum of money. It is almost a job in itself, with the collecting of receipts and organisation that is to be done.

I also believe that the list of allowances is very constrained. It would be better if the list more accurately reflected the work done. I was a councillor for years and remain very close to my councillor colleagues, and I know that they are asked for money for various causes on the road. If there is a charity function, they are asked for money for it. Also, when the councillors bring people out canvassing or doing voluntary work with them, they have to offer that person basic refreshments while they are on the road as a basic courtesy. Even if it is only toasted sandwiches after a day's voluntary work in the community, it is still a big expense for councillors, especially if it happens on a regular basis. That is not in the vouched allowances. There are many incidental types of expenditures and I appeal to the Minister of State, at a minimum, to increase the list of items that qualify as vouched expenses and to be much more liberal in that regard. Indeed, I believe that list should be more liberal for all elected representatives, but that is another matter.I ask the Minister to extend that list and to look at the whole concept of whether it is wise in the first instance to vouch a small amount of money like this. If the Minister of State is not going to radically increase the list and consider increasing the amount, I think the concept of vouching should be out.

Like other colleagues, I would like to know how long the review will take and when we will have results from it. The review, if it takes full account of the situation, will be generous to councillors, I would have thought.

The areas to be covered will need to be smaller. One councillor I spoke with this morning told me it is about 55 miles or 60 miles from one end of his area to the other, which is very challenging and difficult. This needs to be looked at in the review. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak. If we do not look after our councillors, we put our democracy at risk.