Overnight rates disparity
Senator Carrigy raised the gap between public service and Civil Service overnight rates, especially for Gardaí working away from home. The Cathaoirleach cautioned that the courts are independent, and Carrigy added broader complaints about respect for public representatives before the chair noted the point.
I raise the disparity in overnight rates between the public service and the Civil Service. It has been highlighted to me, with regard to Garda overnight rates, that if a Garda has to come from somewhere such as Belmullet in County Mayo to the Central Criminal Court in Dublin and stay overnight for a case, the maximum payable is €107. As all of us know, we will not get anywhere to stay in Dublin for that. The HSE rate will be increased next week to €195. I do not believe there should be disparity between public servants and civil servants with regard to rates, especially for staying in Dublin. This needs to be addressed.
People will be aware, because I am a public representative, that I was in the courts recently over abuse received by me and my family. I have expressed publicly my disappointment at how this was dealt with by the courts system. That needs to be changed.
Comment on this
Notwithstanding the issue that Senator Carrigy is raising, I must caution him that the courts are independent of the Houses.
Comment on this
I know they are independent but public representatives are not treated fairly or in the same way as other citizens. Our families do not get the respect they deserve when people admit and plead guilty to doing something. I am highlighting something that is a fact. A little bit more respect needs to be shown to us and our families. This issue was highlighted to me on Wednesday, the day after the court case, when Meta, TikTok and Google attended a meeting of an Oireachtas committee. These are three social media companies that a number of months ago I invited to come before the committee to discuss online safety. At that meeting, Meta admitted to treating those of us in public life differently. Any hate content put up on social media by anybody against those of us in political life is treated as being in the public interest and is left there. For a private citizen it would be taken down if it was proved to be incorrect or false. This is not acceptable. Two of the companies, TikTok and Google, have a different stance but Meta treats us differently and allows false information about anybody in public life to be put up and not taken down. This has to change and the company needs to be called out on it.