Right to disconnect and councillors
The Leader supported the new right-to-disconnect report and said there was broad backing for better treatment of local authority members, whose workload and responsibilities have grown. Craughwell insisted he had never abandoned the councillors’ cause, and the Leader argued that local representatives deserve proper support despite political fear of criticism.
The Senator's points are valid.
Senators Craughwell and Reilly referred to the report published this morning on the right of workers to disconnect. It is an important right that we should all support.
The Moorhead report is with the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, as far as I know. There is widespread support from the majority of Senators, who have been advocating for and representing the case of councillors irrespective of the fact that Senator Craughwell has now abandoned his leadership of the issue.
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I never abandoned it. I am just glad the Senators are all behind me now.
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Again, in recognising the role local authority members play, there must be a recognition from the political system that their workload has increased, the nature of their work has changed and there is a real need to have a conversation on how to support and pay public representatives at local level. Unfortunately, there is an unwillingness to tackle the issue because of a fear of what people might think or of what journalists might write. In the case of our local elected representatives, there is a need to make a decision and stick by it. They deserve to be supported irrespective of what political party they are in or if they are Independent.