Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State so much for coming in here this evening to deal with this motion. I thank him for not opposing the motion as well. Could we have a copy of his speech? I know that most of it was off the cuff but that would be excellent so we can circulate it to our councillors around the country. I thank the Government parties for not opposing this motion. I thank the 13 Senators who turned up here tonight for this important debate. I am so privileged to be elected here by the county councillors of this country. It is a shame we did not see more Senators in here this evening. At the end of the day, they are elected by the ordinary elected members of our local authorities and they really should have been in here tonight to champion the work they do.

I just want to repeat some of what I have listened to here tonight and what Senators have said. They said we are setting councillors up to take a beating and that councillors do not get the due recognition for the level of work they put into the job. Do we want local democracy or administrative areas? The development plan 2023 should have a review phase after five years. Powers are being stripped away. It was not necessary to tinker around with Part 8. For the past 25 years, councillors have been pushed aside. Local, regional and central government does not work.This leads to endless frustration. Councillors take the temperature of the local population. The role of the councillors is being diminished. We need a rebalancing of powers. It is a vocation; it is not about the money. The workload has increased considerably. It is a full-time job for part-time wages.

I thank the Minister of State for the input he has had in the Department. He has delivered on the gratuity pay and the security allowance. Deputy Peter Burke was one of the finest Ministers of State with responsibility for local government that we had seen in a very long time. I like to think the pressure put on by the Independent Senators was instrumental in delivering the pay increase for the county councillors around the country.

It is not a living wage. The stark reality of our conversation this evening was seen in Senator Boyhan's contribution, when he said he could see 200 people not running for re-election after Christmas. It will be so sad to lose so much expertise and so much of the value they bring to their communities. It would be very sad to see 200 people stepping out of politics.

I thank the Department. There was €120,000 allocated for training for all councillors and this will be coming out next week. The Independent Group has secured some of this funding and we will be trying to get as many independent women as possible elected into local government. I took part in the Immigrant Council's mentoring scheme. It was very useful. It is important that we work with the migrant communities and ethnic communities in our country to bring them forward into politics and show them the way.

A public consultation session was held by the group, including the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Senators Cassells and Boyhan. I thank them. I was not here that day because I ended up in hospital. I heard it was a very productive meeting. I would love to have been there and please God I will be at the next one.

Senator Fitzpatrick spoke about the skills that are needed now to be a councillor. A councillor needs to be a planner, a solicitor and a social worker. The AILG does a fabulous job when it comes to training councillors. The training they provide every year is second to none. I commend it. I also commend LAMA on its advocacy for county councillors on the ground.

It is so important to have county councillors who are representative of every municipal area on the JPCs. They know what is rumbling on the ground. They know what is happening. They are the people who are keeping the gardaí informed about antisocial behaviour and any little incident that is happening in their community. Putting them out in the cold is not the way forward to run the JPCs.

I thank the Government for not opposing the motion. The contribution by Senator Cassells was an award-winning, Oscar-worthy performance. I know he is taking part in the Oscars on behalf of his local football club. He got great training here tonight. I wish him well in that fundraising effort.