Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

When we look at issues like security and the personal security of county councillors, I note that the amount of money for telephone and broadband has been reduced.Why, when I get an allowance to carry out parliamentary duties, is it called an allowance when it is a sum of money that is not subject to tax? When a county councillor gets an allowance, it is referred to as pay and it is liable to tax and insurance. In addition, we expect them to run their offices. The Minister of State and the Members of this House know the number of people who come up to us, as elected representatives, looking for us to support this or that charity. The money we give our county councillors is a pittance compared with the value they deliver in their communities.

Councillors have to fight hard to get security for their homes, particularly women. Politics in general is not woman friendly. I see the women in this House. The Minister who was in the House earlier had the courage to take maternity leave. Fair play to her, and I think she is the first in the country to do it. We should have a system in place where female members of local authorities who have had a child can watch from home and vote from home. That is what cherishing county councillors would be about. That is what giving them power would be about.

Councillors should be involved in planning. I wonder where we are going with respect to disempowerment in the context of planning.

I could spend what is left of my time slagging off colleagues and saying they are doing nothing for the people. I do not believe that anybody in this House is doing nothing for the people who elect them. They try their damnedest. However, we are caught in the sights of the bureaucrats who want to control everything. Then, when we go out to the council itself, we find that councillors in some councils - a very small few, I will agree - are facing up to the extremely powerful bureaucrats who do things their way. We have to get back to empowering our county councillors to make them feel valued and to make them know that they are running local democracy.

I have a system in my house. If someone calls to my door and complains about dustbins, roundabouts or whatever else, as I am a national politician, I cannot help them. I will give them a list of county councillors to whom they talk and who can help. That is the way it should be. I should not be stepping into the Dáil as that is not my business. It is not where I am. I am in the Seanad, and this is where I should be. We need to go back, recalibrate politics and give power to the people where they are and where they lie. Our job here is to scrutinise legislation and that is what we should be doing. We should not be meddling in the TDs' area and they should not be meddling in the area of county councillors.

I want to see our councillors cherished and empowered. I want to see us take steps to ensure that county councillors are not regarded as cannon fodder to be used at elections and nothing else. I have known the Minister of State for a long time. I am of the view that he will agree with me at the end of the day. I know he is sponsoring some very strong people in the upcoming local elections, some very good friends of mine, who I am sure will do extremely well when the time comes. I will leave it at that.