Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is to be welcomed.

Local democracy is the foundation of our political system. We want the best people in there. Unfortunately we have seen instances of people who cannot keep pace with it, they just cannot afford it. That needs to be addressed.

We know that both the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and the Local Authority Members' Association, LAMA, have always played an extremely important role in providing training and education for councillors on a whole range of issues regarding their roles as members of local authorities. These training days are a great chance for councillors from all parts of the country to interact with each other, swapping and sharing knowledge. However, the new proposed mileage system could theoretically result in a drop-off in attendance for all of these training days as it may not be financially viable for a councillor to travel to them. The reason, as I understand it, is that depending on the index of local authorities, once one travels 1,500 km per year there are only then a further 4,000 km to put one in at the higher mileage rate before it drops by more than half from 83.53 cent per kilometre to 32.32 cent per kilometre after 5,500 km. They are going to suffer and they are very upset about that provision as the Minister of State knows. I do not know what the Minster of State can do about it but if there was something he could do it would be greatly welcomed.

I accept what the previous speakers have said. I also served on a local authority, both town and county, and they are very decent people. They are hard-working people. They are the front-line troops. One could get a knock on one's door any hour of the day or night, or a phone call. More often it was a phone call. One reacted to it because if one did not one was out. They are more troubled and put upon than we as Senators are. Perhaps everyone is different, I do not know. I know we probably work clinics and we go to places to meet people but the councillor, as I say, he is the first port of call generally, no matter what it is.