Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I will try to be as quick as possible because I am aware we have limited time. I thank every councillor who called, emailed and texted me over the past weeks after I sought input on this issue. It is hugely important to hear directly from those affected. I wish I could put every email and testimony into this speech today. I will try to touch on as many of the issues raised as possible.

The first and broadest point is that there is a lack of awareness of the work that local and city councillors do and the role they play. In running for the Seanad and attending AILG meetings, I have met many people who do the job and it has been an eye-opener for me into the daily realities of the role and the long hours they work. It is almost a vocation for some of the councillors. They leave their families and everything behind.

For the majority of people, local councillors are the first port of call when one has a problem. This is aside from attending council meetings and voting and all the more formal aspects of the job.It is about making sure they are always available if somebody locally needs help. If a key service is not working or somebody needs State support to get by, it is the local councillor who is there to answer that call. This is especially true for vulnerable people, in whom I have a particular interest, who may not know what support is available for them or how to access it. For example, in my work with the RISE Foundation and on the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, I have met many county and city councillors who are also working with drug and alcohol task forces in local communities to try to tackle this problem. All local representatives I have spoken to have told me that if they want to take their role seriously and if they want to be able to respond to each constituent with care, compassion and time, they end up working extremely long hours on top of doing their regular jobs. This is a real problem because councillors are then trying to do a full-time role, but through out-of-hours work after their job or by taking unpaid leave. They spend less time with their families and are under huge pressure at work.

The big impact of this is that it squeezes out people on lower incomes or people who do not have the flexibility and support that comes with certain professions. The low pay means it is just not viable for most people. That is making it unsustainable in the long run. A councillor who contacted me had agreed to go on a 3.5 days working week to allow for meetings and constituency work. That is difficult enough, but many people just do not have that option. Another young woman councillor is trying to do the job while raising her three young children. She felt it was essentially a choice between being there for her family or continuing in the role. There has been some movement in recent years where various expenses and allowances have been introduced, but the feedback on this process is that it is really complicated and difficult to get through. We have a patchwork process where one thing has been added to another and that has made it increasingly difficult to navigate. I spoke with the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, which said that as a result it expects 3% to 5% of councillors to sign up for this. I am encouraged by the Minister of State's comments today on trying to introduce a simplified approach and the potential for linking remuneration to a Civil Service grade.

Ultimately, we must have a genuine debate about what role we want councillors and local government to play and how inclusive we want the positions to be. At present, we are caught between two poles - it is not a voluntary position with a low level of commitment and it is not a full-time position with the resources available to do the job that people expect. If we want people on lower incomes or people from less advantaged backgrounds to step forward into this role, we cannot leave it so that only those with a high salary and a flexible job can afford it. As an Independent Senator, I am proud of the achievements I and my fellow Independent Senators have had in this House. Irish politics needs strong, independent voices, particularly those who will represent the most vulnerable in society. This is as true for local government as it is for Leinster House.