Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell. He is one of the hardest-working Ministers of State in the House. I am sure he will have no problem in taking over the big shoes of Deputy Peter Burke in what is a tough portfolio. I am also sure we will see a lot of the new Minister of State here.

I raised this issue with the Minister of State's predecessor. I acknowledge that the new Minister of State has put a great deal of work into it because we have talked about the local representation allowance that councillors receive. I believe the legislation does not specify whether the allowance covers alarms, CCTV and panic buttons. I believe that this is something that needs to be outlined, particularly in the light of recent attacks on the homes of politicians, as well as marches and protests at their houses. We should at all cost protect councillors because they are at the forefront of politics. Like Deputies, councillors are extremely immersed in their local communities. The basic thing that councillors need is protection and anything that we can do to help and to improve their security would be beneficial.

As the Minister of State will be aware, councillors can submit a claim that covers 14 categories. Some of them tie in but I advise that we add another category of home security systems. As the Minister of State has been working on this issue, I ask him to enlighten us about the situation.