Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With the Leas-Chathaoirleach's permission, I wish to give two minutes to my colleague, Senator Kieran O'Donnell.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and acknowledge that since he came into office, he has taken this subject by the scruff of the neck and has been proactive. I know from private conversations with him, and from his returning the €1,000 lost to councillors, that he is sincere and genuine in trying to resolve this. I appreciate that. The important news in the Minister of State's speech today is that he has given a commitment to immediately set up the local authority remuneration review group. That is an important development. He has also agreed to give it an independent chair and he has not made it a long fingering exercise because he has agreed that it will report this year. Those three things, namely, the independent chair, the quick report and the broad terms of reference, will make that review group very effective.

The review group will quickly discover that councillors work 24-7 and that they are the front-line workers in our democratic system. They are the lightning conductors for public anger, rage and angst among communities and individuals. They are available to attend public meetings on behalf of councils on a round the clock basis. They now have huge areas to cover, which I know the Minister of State proposes to reduce, and that should be the case.

Some 30% of councillors are totally dependent on whatever income they get from being a councillor. Apart from that 30%, the other 70% are greatly disadvantaged in terms of their careers and personal income if they are in business or in farming and must be replaced, etc. They suffer huge financial disadvantage and they and their families give a commitment 24-7. They are at the front-line of democracy. That is why the review body must address the four key issues of concern to councillors.

The requirement to aggregate travel from a multiplicity of outside bodies is not a runner because of the sheer number of bodies on which councillors represent their councils. I will not read the full list which is enormous. It is virtually impossible to implement that, and the Minister of State said as much in his speech. This must be a key issue for the review body to study.

The other key issue the review body must study is that the changes to the travel rate are causing a drop in income for a number of councillors. Some 541 councillors are disadvantaged financially under the new system and they are getting less money. It is not a question of earning but a question of getting money back for the enormous losses they suffered on their election in 2014. They are in a very difficult situation. The losses range from as high as €280 to €291 in some instances. It is a very difficult situation.

Another issue this review body will need to look at under the independent chair is that we will have a huge deficit on the front-line of democracy if we cannot attract good quality people into local government in the future as well as maintain the existing people. Does the Minister of State have figures on the attrition rate in the current councils? I would submit that it is very high and will get higher if we do not deal with this critical question.The issue of vouching needs to be looked at by the new review group and it needs to be dealt with immediately. Vouching is not working. The pick-up of 3% to 5% is a clear indication it is not a success and is not something councillors can embrace. I admire the Minister of State's effort to be proactive and reactive to our demands. He tried to widen the terms of reference and the basis on which people could claim the vouched allowances. That is typical of the Minister of State's effort to resolve the issue. It is still not working and it needs to be studied. I am happy with the new authority being set up to do the examination. I am happy there will be a timeframe and it will not be an indefinite thing that will go on ad nauseamuntil some of the councillors have resigned. I am also happy it will have an independent chair. I would like an assurance from the Minister of State but I think it is implicit in what he has already said, that it will take a holistic look at every aspect of a councillor's income. The Minister of State is nodding assent that there will be a holistic approach. It should look at every facet of a councillor's existence and what he or she is losing. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. It is a very important issue if we want to preserve our Irish democratic system.