Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am just making that point in the context of the position of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, and other members of the Independent Alliance. The important point to make is that the priority must be ensuring adequate representation for citizens. I give the Minister of State credit for having engaged on this debate and delivered the first steps towards progress, in keeping with the commitment in the programme for Government. It is only fair to acknowledge this given that other Ministers have not done the same.

I have had a constant flow of representations from councillors on the question of the unvouched allowance of €2,500 versus the vouched allocation of €5,000. They see the choice available in the Oireachtas in terms of vouched and unvouched expenses and would like a comparable level of flexibility. We all want to ensure there is transparency and accountability when it comes to the expenditure of public moneys, a point I made yesterday during the discussion on the Leader programme. We must get the balance right between ensuring transparency for taxpayers and adequately compensating public representatives, including at local level.

I am aware that the Minister of State is considering an independent review of councillors' pay and how it might be benchmarked. I hope that if we do have such a review, the pay of local authority members will be linked to a grade in the Civil Service, thereby ensuring a proper and fair wage for them. We are well served by the vast majority of our councillors, who are generally well-intentioned and decent people. The importance of local government can be seen every day and was never more evident than during Storm Ophelia and its aftermath.

I thank the Minister of State and for taking the first steps towards improving pay and conditions for local politicians. He will not be able to keep everybody happy but if we make changes as we go along, it will be very helpful to our councillors throughout the State.