Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I support what Senator Craughwell is proposing but I do not think a debate on the Social Welfare Bill is the right time for his proposal. Everyone said the last day that this was a fantastic Bill for the people, particularly during Covid.

The Senator's proposal has sparked a real debate on the pay and conditions of councillors. A large number of us are former members of local authorities. Senator Lombard gave the numbers in Cork. By 2019, 10% of councillors elected in 2014 had resigned their positions. They did not even run in the local elections in 2019 but resigned during that term. That figure is stark.

There is a bigger issue that we need to address. The Moorhead report published some months ago needs to considered on a cross-party basis. It states that 20 hours is the average weekly workload of a local authority member, which is way off the mark. Those of us who were local authority members know we put more than 40 hours a week into the job. While I agree with the sentiment behind the amendment, now is not the time to make it. However, it opens up a bigger discussion we need to have on councillors' pay. If we are to have people putting their names forward in 2024, we need to pay them properly. The breeding ground for most public representatives in the Dáil or Seanad is at local authority level. If we want people to continue to put their names forward and challenge for positions, we need proper pay and conditions put in place.