John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the previous day Senator Ó Ríordáin spoke at length about the huge number of retirements from councils he served on between 2004 and 2011. He is right. All of us would have experience of people who left. Sometimes people leave because they just want to get out of local government, whether for family or employment reasons or whatever. In more recent times, however, people who may have had a different view of local government before they were elected discovered that it is a very time-consuming job and that it is not suitable for them. That is why it is remuneration levels in its entirety, and I am talking about any communications Senators make with councillors. It is not just about the pay but also about the current expenses system. Councillors do not have any supports for secretarial assistance, as Senator Buttimer mentioned, or research. All those issues must be in the pot, so to speak, in addition to a service councillors do not have but that is available to Deputies. The distinguished Members of the Upper House do not have it because they do not have constituencies. I refer to an allowance-----