Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)

As this is my first interaction with the Minister of State in the Chamber, I wish him the very best of luck. He brings an enormous amount of experience to the role, having served at local authority level, in this Chamber and now in the Dáil as a Minister of State. I sincerely wish him the best of luck.

I wish to make a number of points, particularly given my experience of having been elected to Wexford County Council on two occasions. The point has been made repeatedly in this Chamber that being a councillor at local authority level is a full-time job, and I wholeheartedly agree with that, having operated as a councillor for almost six years.

I wholeheartedly support the remuneration increase that has been highlighted by previous speakers in this Chamber. I also highlight the fact that, as a Senator, I am entitled to the equivalent of a full-time member of staff to assist me with secretarial work, which is welcome. There should be a greater support put in place for local authority members to support their work with the volume of queries they are receiving, especially now in an era after the Covid pandemic when most contact is made via email. Councillors are finding their inboxes are overwhelmed with the number of emails they receive daily. It is only right and proper they are supported. The current vouched scheme of secretarial support of up to approximately slightly more than €5,000 is simply not suitable for the volume of administrative work that is required to be a successful member of a local authority. I support the previous calls made for a pension system to be brought in and put in place for local authority members, particularly one that is index linked.

It is important we reflect the diverse nature of society and the people who represent us at local authority level. It cannot simply be a fact of life in this country that our local authority members come from one sector of society or from one age bracket. That is simply not suitable.

I support the call for town councils to be reintroduced. I am thinking that, in my own county of Wexford, if the limit was brought in that town councils were restored at 10,000 population as per the last census, that would mean town councils in our two larger towns of Wexford and Enniscorthy. I think that is a model that could work well, provided there is a devolution of powers from central government down through the local authorities and subsequently to town councils. We do not want town councils to be simply a talking chamber. We need them to be chambers that are empowered to make key decisions about the towns they represent.

I highlight the need over this Oireachtas term for more devolution of powers, especially in the area of planning. I note the Minister of State has responsibility for that area. Given his background and expertise in it, I encourage him to devolve more powers back to the local councils, who understand the issues on the ground better than anyone.