Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue that I have raised a number of times previously, namely, the Moorhead report and the total disrespect shown to this House by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State at the same Department, Deputy Burke, in not coming here to discuss it with us.It should not be forgotten that 49 of the Senators in this House are here because of the 949 locally elected councillors in this country. There was a debate in this House yesterday on the relevance of the Seanad and I find it amazing that 49 of us have not done our best for the councillors on the ground who are working day in and day out for less than the current pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, rate. We must address the issue of the value of local councillors within the local government system and how we view them. It is important that the Minister and Minister of State would come into this House to discuss their views on the Moorhead report. The buck stops with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party and their party leaders. We have had enough talk about this issue. Senators should not hang their heads; they should do something to deliver for local councillors in this country. There is never a good time to talk about this and me raising it again today will make absolutely no difference. The buck stops with the Senators and Deputies from the Government parties and their leaders and I urge them to do their very best in this regard.

I have just come from a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. We could strengthen the position of councillors by creating a European affairs committee at local level. I raised this issue with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, a few years ago but that call has also fallen on deaf ears. If we want more citizen engagement vis-à-visEurope going forward then we need to strengthen the value we place on the EU at local level. We can do that very easily through local government. I ask the Leader of the House, Senator Doherty, to invite the Minister of State or the Minister to the House to outline their views on the Moorhead report and discuss the value of local councillors throughout the country.