Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and Councillor Dermot Lacey.

I thank the Minister of State for facilitating a meeting at my request on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group and Fine Gael group on issues that arose from a meeting with LAMA a few weeks ago. I was heartened by that meeting because I got the feeling the Minister of State understands what we talked about. He is a former local councillor as I am. It means a lot that he was engaged and I said so to him on the day. I was heartened by that. We discussed a number of issues that were mentioned this afternoon from the gratuity to the length of service and a few other issues. The Minister of State is working on and quietly progressing all of them. I look forward to developments in them in the not too distant future.

Someone commented that we are at a crossroads in the question of whether we have democracy at local level. I do not like to name anyone, but the former Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, took a hatchet to local government unfortunately when he did away with town councils. As a former town council member, I think that was a crazy decision. I understand it is in the programme for Government to return the town councils. Senator Cassells has done a lot of work on that. We should certainly look at it for towns with a population of 8,000 to 10,000.

Since I became a Senator, terms and conditions for councillors have been an issue and continue to be an issue today, but I am heartened. I like to give credit where it is due and I give it to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, who were receptive to the call from all political voices on the need to move the issue of councillors' terms and conditions forward. I thank both gentlemen because we were banging on that door for a long time without getting any response so I am glad we see some movement on it. The old phrase "a lot done, more to do" springs to mind, because we have more to do on councillors' terms and conditions and a number of other issues.

Members quoted a few examples this afternoon where the role of the councillor is being diminished. In many ways, there are parallels on this campus where the role of the Oireachtas Member is also being diminished. We are at a crossroads in many ways and bit by bit, chip by chip, the powers of local authority members are being diluted. The most recent example is the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which proposes to do away with joint policing committees, JPCs, and more or less do away with the involvement of local authority members in them. The Fianna Fáil group has met the Minister about that and voiced our strong opposition to what is being proposed in that Bill. I understand we have until next Monday to table amendments. I hope common sense will prevail and that the Minister will listen to sincere, sensible proposals coming forward about local authority members.

The only people in the new body the Minister is talking about setting up who will be accountable are local authority members. No other individual around that table from a State agency is accountable, but local authority members have to put themselves before the people every five years. They have to answer for their performance in the previous five years. No official has to do that. Politicians - and we in these Houses have ourselves to blame - have ceded too much power to unelected officials. We are paying a price for that today. However, it is not the end of the road and we have an opportunity to push back. The most vivid example of this is the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which is before us this week. I ask all Members from all parties and none to reflect on that. Let this be a mark on the road where we as elected representatives push back. We are elected by the people on behalf of the people to work for the people. Let the people have their voice.

I commend my colleagues on the Independent benches on bringing forward this motion. We speak collectively with one voice on this. I salute the representative associations, LAMA and AILG for the tireless work they do on behalf of elected members and every local authority member, whether they are a member of a party or not, for the role they do. They are certainly not in it for the money. In the job they do - and I speak as someone who was an elected councillor only seven or eight years ago - the workload has increased significantly, so much so that it is a full time job for a part-time salary. We are either serious about local government or not. I feel we are knocking on an open door when we knock on the Minister of State's door because he understands local government. I sincerely hope we will see great strides of progress during his reign and a repositioning of local democracy and its importance.