Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone who has partaken in this debate. I welcome Councillor Dermot Lacey from Dublin City Council. Might I say, he is not the only one following this debate. I just got a text in stating “Senator Cassells is on fire but he is right”. I do not want to embarrass him but I think he is right too. I think he is on fire and passionate about local government. I commend him on that.

I welcome the Minister of State. He has been a reforming Minister of State and perhaps one of the best I have come across in the seven years I have been here.

I was elected to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in the 90s. It was the best day and still the highlight of my political career. If I were to lose my seat in the Seanad tomorrow, I would certainly contest the next local elections. That is my commitment and my interest. I have a fire in my belly about local government. I believe in it and I like it. What greater honour than to be elected by a community that accepts you and you are part of? Circumstances bring us to different places and different communities. I had the pleasure of landing in Dún Laoghaire at a few days old - my origins are from Kildare – and I took to that place. I love it. It is my home town and I represent it. As I said, I would be knocking on doors again. It would still be the life in me yet. I want to see local government thrive and I want the powers devolved.

We can talk about devolving powers to local government but let us remember, in the past seven years that I have been here, there have been many opportunities where Senators had to stand shoulder to shoulder and support local authority members and they did not do it. There were many motions indeed and I will share it. I keep an excel spreadsheet in my office of every vote taken here. I think that is important. We need to remind ourselves about our renewed vigour and renewed commitment to local government. We have many opportunities. The bar is put in front of us and we do not always deliver.

I am privileged because I am not whipped as a member of a political party. I am an Independent Senator, as I was for some time. I think the Progressive Democrats left me; I did not leave them. They were gone by the time my term ran out. I wish to give a plug for Independent politics. It is very important and I hope to see a large range of Independent candidates across the 31 local authorities. There is a place for them, as there is a place for parties. We are not whipped; we are independent. I can stand here and advocate for what I believe in. I know the Minister of State does too, but he is in a party and there is a collective. I accept how the system works.

In short, it is important we support our councillors. The remuneration is not satisfactory and we need to look at that again. It should be four times one's finishing salary. I think there are issues about that. This week alone, ten councillors have contacted me, seven of whom are women, who are not running for local elections. Some of them only had one term. There is high pressure, social media and there are huge demands. As one person put it to me, “How could I do it? It is a full-time job for part-time pay." That is as they see it. I refer to the harassment, hassle and pressures they are under. They are internally having struggles with management structures. They are not supported, so there is a real issue.

Let us not fool ourselves. We only have local administration. We do not have local government in this country and we need to aim at that. Successive Governments for years have centralised local government. They have taken powers away from local authorities. I have touched on the gratuity that needs to be addressed.One of the things that motivated Senators Keogan, Craughwell and I is that Senator Keogan and I were summoned to a meeting of Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, that was held in the Fianna Fáil Party room. It was the first time I was ever there. Party members reminded me that I could not be too critical of Fianna Fáil because I was in their rooms, so I was quite tough with them. I told them if they wanted to cross the corridor to my room we could discuss business. They lectured us to a great extent. I told them they did not need to lecture me, that I stand over my record on local government and councillors. However, to be fair to them, they were representing their organisation, which is LAMA. They talked about the gratuity, not being valued or respected, powers being eroded and especially the Part 8s in the proposal. These are matters the Government presided over and the Minister of State's party has been in government for a long time. They were frustrated. We had a robust exchange and I gave them a commitment to do something about it. For the executives of LAMA listening tonight I say we gave a commitment, we are here tonight, it is being debated in the Seanad and I look forward to talking to them again tonight or tomorrow to ask them what they thought of the deliberations.

I thank the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, which has also done amazing work in advocating for local authorities and needs to be supported. Members will recall when we had MARA, there was a proposal to put councillors on it, but it was not supported by Members of this House. They will recall a proposal from councillors to increase the number of councillors in the Dublin issues around the mayor and the citizens' assembly. There was another vote about that which was not supported. Dublin councillors had asked for more representation. We do not all get it right, but I am making the point that we have had opportunities.

As Senator Fitzpatrick said, councillors say they are not lawyers, planners or financial experts, so they need independent legal advice, independent planning advice and independent financial advice. That should be given to them. The gratuity is an improvement, but I am now seriously worried. I believe that after Christmas we will have any number up to 200 or 300 councillors saying they will not run again. Local democracy is under pressure. We need to steady the nerves, say we stand shoulder to shoulder with our city and county councillors, support the AILG and LAMA to do their work and start looking at a roadmap for how we will devolve powers from central government to local government. That is what this motion seeks to do and I know we will have cross party support in this House and that the Minister of State will also support those objectives at the end of the day.