Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

At the start of this final week, and because I am not going to be here tomorrow or Thursday, I want to express my gratitude to all of the workers who make this place run so smoothly, including Martin Groves and his team, and others. We are very fortunate to have such talented and diligent people working to facilitate our legislative process. I hope the recess is restful and restorative for everyone.

I was delighted to be able to contribute to the recent statements on local government issues and I thank the Leader for organising that debate, which was very informative. Since then, I and other Members have met the leadership of the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and it was a very informative meeting, as I am sure others will agree. Ahead of next year's local elections, it is important that the Government engages with councillors in order that we can ensure the local government sector gets the support it needs to carry out its essential democratic and social functions. As we all know, councillors are at the coalface of politics in a way that can often seem distant to us here in the House, and it is important that we heed their calls when they raise these issues.

I discussed several distinct concerns with the AILG and I cannot do justice to them all in the short time I have today. However, I want to raise them more substantively when we return after the break. One of the concerns I want to raise today is the exclusion of councillors from the security allowance for elected members. This scheme was a prudent response to the increasingly toxic tenor of political discourse. It is important for democracy that public representatives are not vulnerable to harassment and intimidation. However, councillors are also subject to hideous abuse and I cannot understand why this allowance does not include them. An AILG study conducted in 2021 found that 72% of councillors have been victimised and 48% of respondents have considered leaving their role due to the abuse they have received. It is awful that people working hard to represent their communities and their families endure this kind of intimidation and I think it presents a real threat to our democratic process.

Ahead of the next round of elections, we need to encourage more diversity in politics. Political bodies should reflect the public they represent and our democracy will be enriched by having more women, people of colour and LGBT people serve in public roles. However, women and people of ethnic and sexual minority communities receive a disproportionate amount of abuse when engaged with the political process. If we want a truly inclusive and representative politics, we need to ensure that politicians and political candidates are protected, and that process must start at council level. I ask the Leader to pursue this matter with her Government colleagues.

I thank the Leader for listening to the requests from Senators Sherlock and Ó Donnghaile and me and for organising statements on Palestine tomorrow. I am very disappointed that I cannot be here to contribute and in fact am a bit devastated about that. However, my colleague, Senator Ruane, will be speaking on behalf of the Civil Engagement Group and she always speaks truth to power and says what needs to be said.