Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson for his words of welcome. As a former Member of this House I am always glad to come back here for its excellent debates on various topics. I thank Senator Davitt for raising this matter. I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to come before the House today to speak about the important issue of councillors' security.

Local government plays an important role in the life of the nation and is responsible for the delivery of a wide range of services. The activities of local authorities are overseen by elected councils, which provide a forum for the democratic representation of local communities.

All elected representatives should be free to carry out their functions and representational role without fear of harassment or intimidation. Heightened adversarial attitudes to elected representatives is corrosive to democratic participation. It risks deterring potential new candidates and inducing existing representatives to withdraw from political life, which is very regrettable..

I know some concern has been expressed about candidates' information being publicly available whether through the ballot paper, ethics returns or other public documentation or, indeed, simply local knowledge. It is important that people are clearly identifiable when seeking to become public representatives. There is little that can be done to counteract local knowledge but we can and we must ensure that local representatives are in a position to protect themselves.

Under the provisions of the Local Government (Expenses of Local Authority Members) Regulations 2021 a range of allowances are payable to councillors to support them in carrying out their role. Senator Davitt has referred to that range of allowances. The 2021 regulations were given effect following the independent review of the role and remuneration of local authority elected members, which was overseen by Ms Sara Moorhead SC.

The local representation allowance, LRA, was introduced under the 2021 regulations. The LRA is payable to all councillors on a vouched basis. Its terms are similar to the public representation allowance that is payable to Oireachtas Members. The maximum annual allowance that can be claimed under the LRA is €5,160, which is €4,200 plus the €80 per month unvouched. .

The LRA is a flexible allowance with 14 eligible expenditure categories, which the Senator has identified, under which a councillor can claims expenses. Expenditure which may be claimed under the LRA must be wholly and exclusively incurred by a councillor in the performance of his or her duties, and must not include any personal element of expenditure. A member must be able to provide relevant documentation in the form of bills, receipts, invoices etc. for expenses that he or she incurred.

Local authorities are encouraged to be flexible provided that a member's requests are deemed to be reasonable and that the item of expenditure can be reasonably construed as coming under one of the 14 categories of eligible expenditure.The eligible expenditure categories include improvements to office accommodation and utilities of an office or offices, including home offices. Most councillors work from home some of the time and may have space in their home designated as a home office.

I am pleased to inform the Senator that clarifying guidelines issued from my Department in December 2022 included guidance of the issue of home security systems for councillors who have home offices. Installation costs of CCTV security systems may be covered in full under improvements to office accommodation category. Monthly and annual costs associated with home alarm monitoring may also be apportioned and claimed under utilities at up to a maximum of 20% of the total cost. The installation is under category 3 and the annual running costs are category 4.

To give full clarity on the guidance issued to the local authorities, the installation cost of CCTV may be covered in full under the category "improvements to office accommodation". Monthly annual costs associated with home alarm monitoring may also be apportioned and claimed with category 4, utility, up to a maximum of 20%.

Having looked back through it, the directions on it were updated on 1 September, including the improvement to office accommodation category. It does not specifically mention CCTV cameras. Utilities of an office or offices, under category 4 directions, include alarm security costs. I have discussed it with my Department. We will issue revised, updated directions. I have asked that category 3 will specifically mention CCTV installation. That should bring full clarity. However, under the guidance, under category 3, councillors can claim for installation of security cameras and they can claim annual running costs under category 4.