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

No. It was about 2000. My father answered the phone and I will not say what he said to the constituent who, I hasten to add, was his cousin.

Senator Murnane O'Connor is right, and others have expressed the same view. Councillors want to help make their communities better. It is what motivates all of us, at least at the start of our careers in politics. When I stood for the council there had not been a councillor in my area for 35 years. I was probably elected because everybody voted to elect somebody locally.

On the need for additional powers for councillors, this is a contentious issue. My officials and I had a meeting with some of the councillors' representative groups a number of months ago at which that request was made. The representative groups could not respond with any additional powers they thought should be given to councillors. That was shocking.