All parties back committee on councillors’ pay

The Seanad has agreed an all-party motion to establish a committee to examine local councillors’ terms and conditions.

During a short debate in the Upper House, all political groupings accepted the Fianna Fail motion to establish a “time-limited” committee.

Fianna Fail Senator Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, said the committee representing all political groups would examine councillors’ terms and condition, including the controversial K Class PRSI payments.

Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has said he will look at providing social welfare benefits including pension rights under the K class PRSI payments for councillors.

All public servants, including TDs, Senators and councillors make PRSI payments and all bar councillors receive pension benefits.

Ms Murnane O’Connor, who spent 19 years as a councillor, said she had witnessed the increased workload and geographical area councillors had to cover when changes were introduced in 2014, which resulted in the abolition of town councils.

Fine Gael Senator Paddy Burke backed the motion to renegotiate councillors' pay and terms.

Mr Burke, who raised the issue in the Seanad last month with Mr Varadkar, said the current terms including annual pay of €16,500 were not working. The pay was “not quite adequate in my view to cover the costs of someone who is a full-time councillor”.

The Mayo Senator, who served as a member of the local authority for 25 years and as a town councillor for 10 years, said it was only proper that young councillors who make K class contributions should be entitled to a contributory pension.

The benefits that accrue to other K class employees should apply to councillors as well he said.

Independent Senator Victor Boyhan welcomed the cross party consensus and said the committee should deal with four areas - the representation fee, the fixed annual allowance, K class contributions and and elected members gratuity payments.

He said it was “important that we have a clear message, focus and target”.

Sinn Féin Seanad leader Senator Rose Conway-Walsh, whose party supports the motion, said the changes introduced in 2014 “have not served the people in constituencies or county councillors”.

The money saved in getting rid of the town councils was a major mistake, she added.

The Mayo Senator said her constituency in west Mayo was 100 miles long and “there was no way I could give a quality of service that needed to be done”.

She said county councillors needed the resources to be able to do their jobs. “There have to be fixed term contracts with associated benefits,” she added.

Ms Conway-Walsh also said there were people who have expertise, including single parents, who are financially forbidden from becoming councillors because the pay and conditions do not allow for it.

She said the committee would however have to be “time limited and it will have to produce results”.

Labour Senator Denis Landy, welcomed the motion and said "there's a lot of delicate negotiations that will have to take place and they will have to take place predominantly with the Minister".

The two councillors’ associations are meeting Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

He said the last Seanad had done a lot of work on this, and there had been a review of the 2014 legislation.

He added they should first look at increased the administrative assistance payment and then look at rates of pay.