Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendments Nos. 138 and 139 seek to address the need for local councillors to access independent political and technical advice. When we vote for our local councillors, we vote for a person who will represent our communities. We must make sure they have all the supports they need to make these decisions in our best interests. These amendments would empower local councillors by giving them important tools to use when considering and acting on issues that come before them. Amendment No. 142 would allow the Minister to extend the plan at the request of the elected councillors themselves rather than an unelected manager. From speaking with local councillors up and down the country, I have heard that, too often, our councillors do not have the authority to bring about local changes they believe are needed. Councillors will tell you themselves that they have little to no powers.

Decisions like these should be made by elected councillors who are answerable to the people rather than unelected officials. I would like to see us addressing how to give more power to councillors, the elected representatives of the people. This is an example of an area where we can. A lot of the time when we look at Traveller accommodation, we tend to blame local councillors. However, if I have learned anything in the past four or five years, although there are many councillors who are - this is my first time to use the word - discriminatory and racist towards members of the Traveller community and believe that land, in some cases, is too valuable for Travellers, and we have seen Ministers get to be Ministers because they are anti-Traveller and racist, I know of 76 councillors who voted for a member of the Traveller community to come in here and be a voice for local councillors. That says an awful lot for our local authorities and not every single councillor on the local authorities is racist and does not want land or the best outcomes for Traveller accommodation, because that is not the case for every single councillor. While we see even Ministers get in here on the back of being racist and discriminatory, I think that the more power councillors have, the more changes they can bring about in local communities.

While we blame councillors and many people do not know what little power county councillors have at a local level, the issue is with the system. I remember the corporation in the 1990s. Now there is Dublin City Council and the different local authorities. It is the same system underneath a different name and I genuinely believe that amendments Nos. 138, 139, 142 and 143 will give more powers to councillors, whom people in the area elected to be a voice for them.