Local Government (Support for Elected Members) Bill 2024: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10 ============================================================ Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I commend Senator Black and the Civil Engagement Group on bringing forward this motion, which I am happy to support it. I echo what Senator Ahearn said. The greatest honour of my life was to be elected to Sligo County Council. Making the move from not being elected to being elected is possibly one of the biggest achievements a person can have. However, I am also disappointed by the timed amendment. I have to acknowledge the Moorhead report. There have been huge improvements. There is no doubt about that. It is also great that a local task force is being set up, but I hope this Bill can be passed before the outcome of that task force's work. It is a great Bill. I was happy to be at the briefing relating to it. I, too, welcome Councillor Joe Malone and commend the work of LAMA and AILG, especially in respect of new councillors. I was not on the council for long. However, I know that councillors go way beyond the call of duty in the work they do in addition to their own work. They have asked for this. I know from being a county councillor and trying to do two jobs - and I would like there to be a possibility further down the line to look at having it as a full-time role - that having administrative support would be one of the biggest things that would be of help to councillors. We all agree on that. As new Senator, when I saw the timed amendment, I did not really understand what it meant. It seems, however, that the Bill is being down the road. I will be bringing forward a fourth Bill next week, and I hope we will not get the same response, namely a 12-month delay, to that. To get elected to the Seanad, I had to canvass all the county councils throughout the country. I tried to visit every county council, and that was what came out as most important. Councillors do not have sufficient time. They are overburdened. They are acting as councillors and therapists and are the first port of call at the coalface. We know this from being councillors. The workload is getting heavier. This is a good Bill that could alleviate the pressure to which I refer and that would encourage people to remain in place or to run for councils. We spoke about women in politics. This has come up for Women For Election Ireland. We want to get more women involved. To do that, the administrative burden could be alleviated. I hope the amendment will not be pushed to a vote. I hope the Government will reconsider its position. If the results of the task force are going be out at Easter, perhaps matters can be expedited. I commend Senator Black on the Bill. I am happy to support it. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-12-10